Nagoya was spectacular, even if he had just seen glimpses of the city through the airplane and car window when they arrived about half an hour ago he had still thought it was a sight to behold and now the city was unfurled before him as far as his eyes could see as he stood behind the ceiling to floor glass window of his hotel room.

Tall buildings rose from all around the city, aching to touch the sky. The bay glinted in the distance under the yawn of the afternoon sun, the water eventually flowing out into the open sea. Down below him, people resembled ants as they hurried down the busy streets filled with tarpaulins and posters printed with the logo of this year’s Asian Games.

Jaemin inhaled a deep breath, releasing only when he couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the city. This is it, he thought to himself.

He wants to go down and explore later, preferably with friends but he’s not sure if his other teammates were even up to it.

“No, Jaemin.” Taeyong said to his question of ‘do you guys want to go out later?’ Beside him, Doyoung shook his head with a frown as well. “You should rest, the games start tomorrow and our match is the day after that.”

Jaemin didn’t expect much from them in the first place but he’s still unable to mask his annoyance at Taeyong’s nagging. Even back in the dojang, Taeyong had pinned him as a troublemaker. Jaemin might have been one but he’s more of a troublefinder than a troublemaker. Two different things, he used to say to them.

“Technically, the games start tonight.” Doyoung is busy taking out his neatly folded clothes from his luggage and transferring them to the built-in closet in their room.

Jaemin frowned because he didn’t have one in his own room. His room was smaller, a room to himself while they got to share. Sure it sounded awesome to have his own room but Taeyong’s and Doyoung’s shared room was like ten times bigger with the built-in closet, double king-sized bed and a mini kitchen to boot. It made Jaemin’s room look like a shoebox.

The younger one crossed his arms dejectedly before grumbling a series of complaints while walking out their room.

“I knew it.” he murmured.

Later, when Jaemin is wearing his all-white polyester jacket with the flag of South Korea plastered on the back and waving a miniature version of it in his hands, he walks a little closer towards Jeno and Mark as they paraded around the Nagoya Dome with smiles that were as blinding as the camera flashes aimed right at them.

“Gah! I think I’m blind!” Jeno complains, stopping abruptly in the middle to rub his eyes. Jaemin bumps into him accidentally.

“Keep it moving, boys.” One of the head coach says when he passes by them with a stern look on his face.

The two boys bow in apology before falling back into the marching rhythm of their other teammates. They were one team, all 102 athletes wearing the same jacket Jaemin had on because they represented and played for the same country, their country.

The Nagoya Dome was one of the largest domes in all of Asia, it could seat up to 38,000 people and Jaemin found that impossible to believe at first when Doyoung and his coach had told him this. But standing in the dome now, when six months ago he wasn’t even sure if he could qualify for the Asian Games, it’s like a dream come to life. He looked at the crowd, thousands of them had occupied every available seat just to watch the opening and who knew how many more people were watching this on their television screens?

The camera nearest to them points towards Jaemin’s direction, he raises his hand up and waves the flag of South Korea with a huge grin. The crowd erupts into cheers when his face is shown on the large screen monitors. This was his reality now and a lump of pride swells in his chest. He hopes his family back home was seeing this.

Mark nudges him, mirroring the grin Jaemin had on. Jeno slinked an arm around his shoulders as he too waved their tiny flag in the air with enthusiasm.

“Guys,” Jaemin sat beside them while his other Taekwondo teammates were a few seats away, too distracted by the fireworks display above their heads to even notice him sneaking off to where the Athletics team were seated. “Want to go downtown or something? I could really use the fresh air.”

Jeno looked at him like he was stupid. “We’re literally in an outdoor arena.”

Jaemin rolled his eyes. The fireworks show almost drowned out his voice, so he leans closer towards them. “Shut up. I meant going into town before the fiasco and chaos of the Games.”

“That sounds fun,” Mark chimed in, smiling. “And I think I also know a place where we can start with. Meet you at the hotel lobby around 9?”

They had a deal. It was just like old times, when the three of them would sneak out during competitions and trainings to do whatever. Only now, they were in a different country. They were in Japan. Jaemin no longer represented his school, or his city or even his province. He was representing his whole country. South Korea’s Taekwondo star, Na Jaemin.

In the four corners of his hotel bedroom, Jaemin hastily changes his clothes from athlete wear to normal, casual wear. A black hoodie with dark blue jeans and some red sneakers. The coach would probably check in on him sometime in the night, so he locked the door instead. The only keycard to his room was with him, unless they borrowed the spare from the hotel then… Jaemin tried not to think about what Coach Kang would do if he found out one of his players was out past the curfew.

“You’re so going to get in trouble,” Jeno said unhelpfully when they made their way down the street, the hotel glowing gold and silver behind them. “At least Mark and I had asked permission.”

Jaemin shrugged. Tonight, he felt reckless. “What’s he going to do? Make me withdraw or forfeit from the games?” he teased. “Honestly, we’re all going to be busy for the next week so we might as well enjoy this night.”

Mark led them to an arcade not too far from the hotel, and the place was packed with Asian Games athletes.

“Holy crap that’s Rikako Ikee!” Mark started bouncing up and down like a kid in a bouncy house. Jeno and Jaemin exchanged embarrassed looks. “The last MVP for the Asian Games! Quick, do you guys have a pen?”

“Mark,” Jaemin chided him, swatting away his outstretched hand in disgust. “We’re national athletes too, and I think Rikako is here for some R&R time just like us.” he nodded at the tall and muscular Japanese girl that was laughing with some of her friends. She looked chill and laidback, and Jaemin doubted she might appreciate Mark going all fanboy on her right now.

Mark visibly deflated and he tried to argue that the girl was not only a national athlete but she held the junior world record in 50 meter freestyle and 100 meter butterfly. Naturally, they ignored his yapping and held him back by the arm.

Jeno raised an eyebrow at Jaemin, “R&R?”

“Rest and relaxation,” he smirked. “Come on,” he steered them towards the other end of the arcade. Neon lights flooded their sight, their skin glowed blue and purple and green lasers danced around on the floor. Somewhere in the arcade, j-pop was being blasting from the speakers.

Jaemin and Jeno had played basketball and the results were drastic with a 36-78 with Jeno beating him, later they played air hockey and then moved on to Tekken 7 in one of the Xboxes. The arcade was great, even the food tasted as good as all the technology and the games surrounding them. They felt like regular teenagers again, when they were still in school and Jaemin did Taekwondo just for fun and Mark and Jeno weren’t national junior record holders of their own in Athletics.

When he closed his eyes, he could imagine himself in the dingy and small arcade near their school and Jaemin’s hands were full of tokens and he’d spend the whole afternoon there with his friends and they’d empty their pockets for spare change to buy cheap tteokbokki and fish cakes.

Jaemin opened his eyes. He was in Nagoya, Japan. The Asian Games have started and he was representing South Korea. He had a diet coke in his hand and some funky tasting fries with squid and wasabi sauce that Mark bought from a stall in the Sakae Night Market.

After a dozen games, they ventured further into Nagoya and stumbled upon the Night Market in all its glory. Even though it was nearing 11 pm, the streets were packed with locals, vendors and tourists alike. Jeno had even pointed to a group of Vietnamese athletes, still wearing their attire from earlier during the opening.

“What time is your preliminaries tomorrow?” Jaemin asked, taking a bite of his fry. His mouth had watered at the mere sight and smell of them.

“Around 8 in the morning.”

He beamed at the other two. “Great, I can watch right after our training.”

The wind blew, cold and chilly. Jaemin is glad he opted to wear a hoodie tonight. He looked up, the sky a blanket of stars that glowed faintly.

“Jaemin, are you sure that you can be drinking coke?” Mark asked, pointing to the can in his hands. He looked concerned for some reason. “Junk food and soda –“

“What do you mean? It’s fine,” Jaemin insisted. He took a swig from the can, it wasn’t even half empty yet. “It’s my first soda in like ten months, all I’ve been drinking is coach’s protein shakes and trust me, protein does not taste good at all.”

Mark shook his head before standing up from the bench he had been seated on. “Whatever, I’m going to buy more fries and maybe some of that squid takoyaki.”

“Me too!”

“Jaemin, wait – look out!”

Everything happened a little too fast, Jaemin’s not sure who bumped into who and why his soda can went flying out of his hand in the first place.

All he knows is when he turned around to follow Mark back to the food stalls, he had collided with another body – another person – and his can of diet coke got elbowed and he lost his grip on it as it slipped from the hold of his fingers. The black, sugary, liquid contents went flying in the air and Jaemin had enough time to gather his bearings to cover his head and take a step back, avoiding getting splashed on by coke.

The girl with her hair dripping wet and a murderous glare on her face however, was not so lucky.

“,” was all Jaemin could muster to say.

Her pale face was streaked with the dark liquid, and the front of her hair had soaked most of it in. She looked livid.

The can had dropped and rolled to a stop on Mark’s feet, who looked like he wanted to bolt and leave Jaemin to deal with this alone.

The girl was soon surrounded by her friends, or at least Jaemin assumes they were her friends, they had rushed towards her with concerned looks and hushed voices that spoke in another language. Not Japanese, Korean or English.

Jaemin recognized it to be Mandarin, he had taken foreign language in high school and one of the languages required to