“Arigatou gozaimaaasu~”

The cute voice of a Japanese shop keeper chirped along with the sound of cashier machine being opened.

Krystal gave her a bright smile while taking her shopping bag away from the cashier. The blonde put her newly purchased funky sunglasses to cover her two beautiful eyes, then continued her journey along Takea Street.

Takea street is a one famous artistic street in Tokyo. Many of the shops on the there target Japanese teen girls and are famous for offering fashion, catering some of Japan's more interesting subcultures , including the lolita, punk, hip-hop and gothic. This part of the street is often packed (especially on weekends) with thousands of colorfully dressed Japanese students and it's always a great pleasure for Krystal to see them.

Krystal smoothed down wrinkles on her sleeveless vest jeans and looked to her right. She rose her phone out and aimed it on the magnificent views of Japanese lollita girls and boys passing by. Everyone wore colorful costumes with excessive accessories. Everyone looked happy and confident.

And that’s what Krystal wanted to capture on her camera.

Snap.

The girl checked the picture and grinned in satisfaction. She then looked up again and readied herself to go. That was her first day in Tokyo and on the 3^rd day she planned to leave for Osaka.

Just when she took some steps away from the shop, a yummy smell of something sweet tickled her nose. She turned around to see a big crepe shop located not far from the shop.

“Omo, Takea crepes.” Krystal talked to herself. “That’s right, I should get one for myself.”

Krystal then approached the prettily decorated pink crepe shop. Two big signs with printed crepe pictures on them stood right on the shops’ side, ignited hunger to anyone who sees that.

There’s only one man standing in the queue, talking to the cashier girl. Krystal happily queued after him, looking at the rubber versions of the on sale crepes beside her.

“Excuse me guest, we apologize deeply, it turned out that we have ran out of kiwi. Can we exchange it with another option?”

Krystal heard the shopkeeper in front of them spoke in Japanese.

“…sorry?”

The man in front of Krystal replied with English language, seemed confused.

“Kiwi, no…” The shop keeper explained with a body language, but still in Japanese language. “Change, change?”

Krystal peeked a little at the customer in front of him. Her eyes then fell to the headphone being circled around his neck.

The letters K A I were written there.

Krystal stunned a little when she read it, then her lips parted open.

“Iced macchiato…”

Krystal averted her eyes back to the shopkeeper who looked a little frustrated and finally she heard the boy murmured to himself in Korean.

“What the hell is she saying…”

When she heard that, Krystal took a step to stand beside the Iced-macchiato boy.

“She said they have ran out of Kiwi. You wanna change it with something else?”

The man-, Kai, turned around in surprise. His eyes widened when he heard the very familiar language sounded on his right ears. “Eh?”

Krystal took the menu book and opened it, then turned to look at the boy from behind her black sunglasses. “Kiwi is good, but I think strawberries are better. Don’t you wanna try this one?”

Kai blinked as he looked at the menu Krystal had just pointed at then groggily nodded. “Err… y-yes.”

Krystal showed a smile then turned to look at the shopkeeper. “Strawberry cheesecake crepes 2, please.”

The shopkeeper looked happy when Krystal spoke in Japanese, nodded with a bright smile. “Yes, it’s all 1080 yen please.”

Krystal turned to look at Kai who was still frozen looking at him, then nudged her chin to the numbers written on the cashier machine. “It’s all 1080 yen.”

Kai was taken a back, letting out an “ah? Eh? Oh-, alright…”

Kai cursed himself a little from stuttering but then he pulled out the money and handed it to the shopkeeper. He nervously glanced at Krystal. “Y-you speak Japanese and Korean…”

Krystal turned and smiled. “I am fluent in 3 languages.”

Kai nodded groggily and scratched the back of his head. He looked at the busy shopkeeper, then back again at Krystal. “So… you are… not Korean?”

“I am Korean,” Krystal replied. “I just can speak in 3 different languages.”

Kai stared at the girl in awe.

“Two cheesecake crepe, enjoy it.” The crepe’s shopkeeper gave out two crepes in front of Kai and Krystal.

Kai furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “Eh? Tw-,”

Krystal’s hand shot forward and took one of the crepe away. “Thank you.”

Kai widened his eyes when Krystal suddenly took the crepe, and when the girl suddenly shot forward to place something on his pocket.

“I am too lazy to queue. Thank you.”

Kai turned his head around and watched as Krystal walked away from him with a playful smile on her face.

…what?

What had just…

Kai looked at the walking girl’s back in pure confusion. He peeked into his pocket and saw some amount of yen inside.

540 yen.

Kai turned to the shop assistant who still held one crepe on her hand, and then at the price of crepe written on big menu book in front of him.

Then, realization hit him.

My. No wonder why the crepe is so expensive.

The dark-haired then took his crepe and ran after Krystal. Krystal walked lightly while eating her crepe, and she glanced to her right when she saw Kai had already walked beside her.

“I have paid my crepe.” Krystal said while lifted her crepe a little.

“I know.” Kai replied and scratched the back of his head nervously.

Well, he also didn’t know why he chased after the girl. His feet just ran after her in reflex, chased and stood beside her like what he’s doing now.

“Well… err… thank you, for… earlier.” Kai said slowly, tried to find his words so he wouldn’t look awkward.

“No problem.” Krystal replied with a shrug. “Japanese people don’t speak English so much, so I think it will be a little harder to communicate here.”

Kai nodded his head while mentally face-palmed his face. He thought that by being Japan’s neighbor, Japanese would understand Korean a little bit and he wouldn’t suffer too much.

Guess that’s not what happening to him then.

“You come alone?”

Krystal’s voice pulled Kai back to reality, and the other blinked before registered the words into his mind completely.

“Oh-, eh? Yes…”

Krystal looked at Kai with a slightly amused smile. “You are pretty courageous to be alone in a foreign country with language that you don’t speak. Have you ever been to Japan before?”

Kai shook his head, blushed slightly. He didn’t really understand whether Krystal was praising or teasing him.

Krystal blinked from the back of her sunglasses and smiled. She took anoter bite of her crepe. “So, do you have plan?”

Kai turned to Krystal. “What? After this? Uh, well… I suppose to… go to Shibuya I think.”

“For what?” Krystal asked again, eyes didn’t leave her crepe.

“…just walking around, taking pictures of Shibuya crossing or something like that…” Kai replied while starting to eat his crepe too. “…then eat, maybe. Grab some late lunch...”

Krystal shifted her attention to her front, looking at some lollita girls walking toward them. “…Shibuya sounds great. It’s been a long time since I ate Ichiran ramen.”

Kai’s eyes sparked in curiosity. “Ichi- what? What is that?”

Krystal smirked. “The best ramen in Japan, I could say.”

“And where is that?”

“Somewhere around Shibuya.” Krystal started to walk again, making Kai also moved along. “Not that far from Shibuya 109.”

Kai frowned, thinking for a while. He didn’t really have much knowledge about Japan yet, so he was pretty loss when Krystal mentioned Shibuya 109. Heck, he didn’t even know where it’s located.

Looking at Kai’s flustered face, Krystal broke into a chuckle. “Gps works nice here, don’t worry.”

Kai looked at Krystal when she said that, fell into silence. There’s a question lingered out inside his mind, but his heart debated wildly whether he should slip it out of his tongue or not.

Krystal herself, had almost finished her crepe. She kept on walking with eyes staring at a certain spot far in the front. She didn’t realize that Kai kept on throwing glances at her.

“-well, what about you?” Kai asked, a little nervous. “What will…you do after this?”

“Nothing much, just playing around here. Why?”

Kai felt his throat went dry and he had to let out an extra energy to force his voice out. “W-why don’t we… go t-together to Shibuya?”

Krystal turned to look at Kai from behind her sunglasses for a while, making the boy in front fell into a mental breakdown.

“I m-mean, I am in Japanese so… I think it will be better i-if we go together-, but it’s okay if y-you can’t!” Kai hurriedly added before Krystal said something to shatter his heart.

Who would go with someone you just met a few minutes ago, anyway?

But the blonde then curved her lips into a smile, before eating her crepe again. “Alright. Let’s go.”

Kai widened his eyes in surprise. “Eh? Really?”

“Sure.” Krystal shrugged. “I don’t have any plan, after all.”

Kai felt his heart lightened up and he broke into a grin. “It’s gonna be my treat!”

Krystal chuckled. “You don’t have to. I also have planned to go there. Save it for the possibilities you would suddenly get lost and need to pay for extra train fees tomorrow.”

Kai pouted a little when he heard that. It’s true that he had difficulties in speaking Japanese but there were also English language written on the platform so he wouldn’t get lost that easy.

“Oh, look at them.” Krystal said while pointing at some girls dressed up in lollita uniform walking from the opposite direction while laughing. Their appearance stood out the most compared to the other.

Kai turned to look at the direction Krystal said then rose his eyebrows when he saw the group of girls. “Well, that’s dope.”

Krystal suddenly had approached the girls, talking to them in fluent Japanese. Meanwhile, Kai still stuck on his position. He stared at Krystal took out her white polaroid camera from her bag and then took a picture together with them.

Krystal checked the printed polaroid then smiled. She said something to the girls, then glanced at Kai. Then, she said something again to the girls and suddenly, they all approached Kai.

“When you visit Harajuku, you should take a picture with them.” Krystal said, pulling Kai’s hand to make him stand in the middle of the girls.

“Wait-, what? I don’t need to-,” Kai’s words were cut when Krystal had suddenly rose her polaroid.

“Okay, one… two…”

SNAP

A picture was taken, and Krystal bowed to the girls while saying thank you in Japanese.

The girls left them while waving their hands. Some chuckled while stealing glances at Kai, making the other blushed a little and turned his head away.

“Well taken.” Krystal whistled while taking off her sunglasses and put them on top of her head. “They are so colorful.”

Kai widened his eyes when he caught the clearer view of Krystal.

“You-, b-bubblegum girl!” Kai said in surprised.

Krystal on the other hand, furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “…huh?”

“You-,” Kai paused to try control his stutter, “-are the girl who gave me bubblegum this morning!”

Krystal still knitted her eyebrows, then tilted her head to the left. “What do you mean?”

Kai hurriedly searched for the melon flavored bubblegum container he got from Krystal yesterday, then showed it to her. “This! You gave me this before we left Japan this morning!”

Well-, no wonder Kai kept on feeling like he had seen the girl somewhere else before.

Krystal’s confused expression slowly changed, before she chuckled. “Ah… you were the one bumping into me.”

Kai nodded instantly. “Yes I am! Wow, I can’t believe we meet again in such a circumstance!”

Krystal also chuckled as she tuck her hair behind her ear. “Well yeah, seems like fate has brought us together again.”

“So you also come from Seoul?” Kai asked.

Krystal shook her head. “Nope.”

This time, Kai became the one that got confused. “…uh? So you don’t come from Seoul? Then… Busan? Or?”

“Se.cret.” Krystal replied lightly, still with her charming smile.

Kai fell into silence. His brain worked, tried to process what the girl had just said.

“The whipped cream has almost melted away.” Krystal said while pointing at the crepe Kai was holding. “Do you plan to keep holding it forever?”

Kai was taken a back with Krystal’s question, then he hurriedly lifted the crepe to eat it. “Ah, I forget.”

Krystal smiled then walked away again. Kai pulled away the crepe from his mouth and asked. “Where are you going?”

“Shibuya, right?” Krystal asked. “Come on, Hachiko is waiting.”

Kai instantly ran to catch up with the girl and walk by her side as he tried to finish his leftover crepe. The dark-haired boy then glanced at Krystal as they headed toHarajuku station.

“…by the way what’s your name?” Kai asked.

“Hmmm…” Krystal pursed her lips into one cute thin line as she folded her arms. “Bubblegum girl sounds nice.”

Once again, Kai frowned. “I mean, real name.”

“I don’t think it’s necessary to know each other’s name.” Krystal replied while turning to look at Kai.

“But then, how do we call each other?” Kai asked in confusion. Well, Krystal is really weird.

“Just call me bubblegum girl, I don’t mind.” Krystal replied with a shrug. “And I will call you Macchiato.”

“What the heck!” Kai exclaimed in surprise. “Macchiat-, that’s not even a human name!”

Well sure, it is his favorite coffee and truth to be told he was surprised Krystal suddenly named him that, but still he couldn’t get why the girl in front of him was so fond to keep her real name remain secret. 

Krystal stared at Kai’s eyes for a few seconds. “…you really don’t remember, do you?”

Kai blinked a few times when Krystal said that. “…huh?”

Krystal broke into another smile. “Iced macchiato is a cute name. Let’s just go for it.”

With that, Krystal walked ahead and left Kai behind.

Kai was speechless, eyes still locked with the pretty girl’s back.

He couldn’t get Krystal. That girl, and her unexpected behaviors. She seemed so ignorant and free-spirited, but also covered in mystery with an unpredictable personality.

Kai watched as the girl hopped onto the train.

He was confused, he was loss in his own world. He suddenly became confused, but also attracted in the same way.

Krystal turned to look at Kai who still stood frozen in front of the train’s door. “What are you doing? Come on.”

Unique.

That bubblegum girl is unique.

She seems to lure Kai to come, entering her maze of thoughts, challenged him to find a way to figure her out. And suddenly, all her words and actions turned into a hundred pieces un-arranged puzzles.

Kai took a deep breathe without tearing his eyes off Krystal. His left leg moved to begin taking steps approaching the girl.

Yes.

At the end, Kim Jongin decided to just take the bait.

A/n

They have reunited and met each other for the first time in Japan! Hope that they could go along well together, remembering that Krystal here has a slightly ignorant and a free spirit personality.

Let's hope the best for them XD

I'll see you in the next chapter!

*for the love of writing, onerusticpen*

Bonus : Krystal's sunglasses X). Not literally dark but enough to keep her real face covered from Kai's eyes. Photo taken from my favorite Indonesian blogger's blog, Ellejess.com #yeay