“Aaah, sorry, Richi-chan, but it’s past my bedtime,” Ayame apologized. “You just have a look around. It’s a small place anyways. And if you’re hungry, there’s a Konbini¹ across the street and your keys are on the table in the living room. I’ll be up again ‘round 3.” Richardis nodded and her former host sister and now flat mate vanished into her bedroom.

Richardis pushed her trolley into the tiny living room, which was adjacent to the kitchen and put down her bag on the sofa. As Ayame had suggested Richardis began inspecting the small flat. The 1st thing that caught her eye was the Totoro-style clock above the kitchen sink, which pointed to 9 o’clock. Richardis’s sense of time was naturally off due to the plane flight, so she pushed aside the curtains of the living room window to peek outside. The sky was cloudless, deep blue and the sun shone. Irritated Richardis pulled off her watch and set it forward by 9 hours. Yep, it was 9 a.m.

Richardis sighed. That was something she would have to manage as well: A complete revision of her sleeping cycle. Going to sleep at dawn and waking up in the afternoon. She wondered whether Ayame was already going to take her out the same night and whether she should get some rest herself. Either way she didn’t feel tired. Quite the opposite Richardis felt hypersensitive and alert. Getting used again to changing trains in Tokyo required a lot of focus, even though she had been led by Ayame. Richardis wanted to know her way around independently as soon as possible, she knew what it meant for Ayame to share her already tiny flat and she wanted to be as little of a burden as possible.

Richardis opened the window and was surprised at the quietness. Nishi-Kasai³ was only 35 minutes away from Tokyo’s center, but if she only listened to the sound of the streets, she might have forgotten that she was in the world’s largest and busiest metropolis. She moved away from the window and inspected the walls of Ayame’s living-room/kitchen area. They were full of neatly arranged postcards from Ayame’s foreign friends and family members. The Nohara² family had always been very venturesome.

The kitchen looked just like Richardis’s had during her last year in Germany: Untidy to the point that it was just bareable and with a third of the counter stacked with ramen and snacks. A tiny portion of the kitchen served as entrance hall, where Richardis had taken off her boots earlier and where Ayame’s coats and jackets where piled up over a miniature shoe-closet. The two doors from the living room area led to Ayame’s bed room and to a small bathroom with a vertical bath-tub.

Richardis liked the bathroom best. Ayame had sent her photos before of the art project she had done in which she had plastered an entire bathroom wall with magazine cut outs. It was more impressive in real life and Richardis spent quite some time admiring it. Then she thought with a giggle that she’d apparently now always have the likes of Choi Seung-hyun⁴ and Yuya Matsua⁵ watch her shower.

Wanting to do something useful before Ayame woke up Richardis started to unpack her things. As she wanted to start over in Japan, which included her possessions, she had packed as minimalistic as possible: A few T-shirts and jeans went into the drawer that stood in the living room which Ayame had emptied for her, her alarm clock was put on top of it, her bathroom utensils with Ayame’s and her own 3 pairs of shoes she put next to the already neatly arranged pairs.

With nothing left to inspect or do Richardis started eying the key on the living room table. She still had 5 more hours before Ayame would get up and she was itching to inspect the neighborhood. She got up, snatched her wallet and the keys, put on her boots and jacket and headed out.

Once out on the streets Richardis thought that she could possibly buy Ayame lunch for when she woke up. Or breakfast… now that she came to think about it. Across the street was the konbini Ayame had spoken off, but Richardis felt that something convenience store bought wasn’t right as a thank you meal, so she started looking for a proper supermarket.

The weather remained sunny and there was little car traffic, but lots of people on bicycles and people out for a stroll.

As Richardis had read online Nishi-Kasai was home to a lot of Indian immigrants, so the 1^st proper supermarket she found was an Indian family business. She chatted with the owner in English and finally bought some spicy bread, vegetables and meat.

On her way back Richardis also went into a book store to get herself a Kanji⁶ practicing kit, because she finally wanted to master the Japanese usage of the Chinese characters. The shop assistant looked a little irritated when it was Richardis turn to pay. “This is for Japanese school children!” she said in English and pointed at the colorful cover of the Kanji practicing kit that showed the mascot of the learning series “Zou-kun the elephant” with a school-kid on each hand.

“That’s alright!” said Richardis in Japanese. “I’m expecting,” she added and patted her stomach. The shop assistant let out an understanding “oooh” and hastitly scanned the Kanji kit.

Feeling good about her successful shopping and still amused about the scene at the book store Richardis made her way back to Ayame’s flat. A very optimistic feeling had taken hold of her and she was already beginning to like Nishi-Kansai.

Back in front of Ayame’s flat Richardis put down her shopping and was just reaching for her key, when a voice behind her called out. It took her a moment to recall that “Ooooi!” was a common colloquial way of calling for someone’s attention. She turned around to find a guy sitting on the staircase opposite of her. She immediately recognized him as a host, with the shoulder long blond-orange dyed hair and the high collar shirt and black vest he was wearing.

“What is it?” asked Richardis in Japanese suspiciously. The host put out the cigarette he had been smoking on the staircase step and got up. He stretched out his hand to Richardis and introduced himself in Japanese: “I’m Kenji Mori. Nice to meet you.” Hesitant Richardis shook his hand. It was strangely rough. “I’m a friend of Ayame-chan,” he explained. “You must be her new flat mate, Richadisu-chan.” “That’s correct.” Richardis said, not bothering to correct his pronunciation and slightly irritated that she was already being called –chan.

Kenji Mori flashed a smile and despite his slightly crooked teeth he looked quiet handsome. “I hear you yourself are interested in joining the hosting business.” he continued. “Yes… maybe,” replied Richardis, wondering why this conversation was taking place outside Ayame’s flat without Ayame. Her intuition told her to be on her guard, so she mentally prepared herself to not give away any additional information. Kenji Mori flashed his smile again, took a step back and then looked Richardis up and down in a matter of seconds.

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“You seem to be doing well. This looks like a great place!” commented Junsu as he stepped into the entrance hall of Junho’s apartment. “Nothing like your place back in Seoul, but it’s comfortable enough for me.” said Junho, closing the door behind them.

“I heard you,” said Junsu, taking off his shoes, scarf and sunglasses. “But, hyung, you don’t want to switch with me. I have spent a great deal of my lifetime in this country and still there’s no place in the whole of Japan that I’d wanna stay at – except your home. And as soon as I go out here in public I need to put on some ridiculous disguise or hide in a taxi and just never ever look in a normal person’s face. Do you want that?”

They glared at each other, neither willing to speak or move. Finally Junho broke the silence: “I’m sorry, Su. I’ve become completely used to being around people who are too polite to point out that my honesty is offending them. It’s like looking at a mirror facing the wall. You… obviously don’t face the wall anymore.” Junho showed a weak smile and Junsu – not good at being angry at people anyway – forgave his brother on the spot and returned the smile.

“We both have some steam to let off… I get that,” said Junsu. “But remember when we used to be mad at people together instead of at each other? I much preferred that!” “Sounds like a plan!” said Junho and took of his shoes and coat as well and they both stepped into the living room. “Also,” Junsu added, “I have intention of supporting your acting career – to the degree that you approve of – in return for you letting me stay here.” Junho made a face: “Are we talking money again? Su, listen to your hyung now. Go put your stuff in your room – it’s down that hallway and to the right, with the small bathroom opposite of it – and then we’re not going to do anything productive for the rest of the day, play video games and watch a Star Wars marathon.” Junsu grinned and nodded.

He took his luggage, carried it down the hall and dumped it next to the bed in his new room. He could already hear the music of the Star Wars DVD menu play in the living room, but he needed a second to himself, so he looked around his room. Junho had put a whole lot of plants in it, so that Junsu slightly felt like he was in miniature forest. The large windows were neat though and he had his own desk. He threw himself on the bed and was surprised when he felt the unfamiliar sensation of what had to be a waterbed.

“Hyung!” he shouted, “Why did you get a water bed and then not sleep in it?” “Can’t answered that!” shouted Junho in return, “My guest room also happens to be the room with all the things of which I can’t recall why I bought them, but I also can’t decide to get rid of them.” “1^st sign of too much money in the wrong hands!” shouted Junsu and he heard Junho laugh in the living room. “Get your famous over here, I wanna watch this!” his brother shouted and Junsu got up from the water bed.

3 Star Wars movies⁷ later Junsu felt pleasantly full as he finished his last bit of pizza and Junho was facing the screen upside down, his long legs dangling over the back of the sofa. “Su-dongsaeng, can I ask you something?” Junho asked. Junsu – still chewing – nodded. Junho rearranged his long self the right way up and said: “Last time we skyped you talked about a girl named Kyungah. Is she still a relevant part of your life?”

Kyungah. Of all the topics in the world Junho had to pick Kyungah.  “As you put it so elegantly earlier… I’m no longer the mirror facing the wall,” said Junsu slowly, making weird empty hand gestures, that didn’t seem to help him get his point across at all. “I guess.. you could say that that’s due to Kyungah.” Junho put on a slightly worried, slightly curious face. Junsu sighed: “Are you sure you want to hear this? I’m okay with telling you, I was going to at some point. It’s just not a pleasant story, from which anyone except me is ever going to learn anything.”

“I wanna know. Tell me,” Junho replied, straightforward has he was. Junsu stopped himself from sighing again and took his phone out of his pocket. Slightly dreading what he would see, but at the same time pushing himself to do it, he tipped the touch screen of his phone until he had opened a picture folder. “This,” he said showing his phone screen to his twin, “is Kyungah 6 months ago.” Junho let out an admiring “ooh”. “So you were a full-fledged couple?” he asked excitedly, “She’s pretty. Oh, and she’s wearing your glasses!” Junsu nodded: “Those are my glasses. And we were a full-fledge couple… at least I thought so.” Junho’s face darkened, when Junsu showed him the next picture.

“This is 8 weeks ago.” “And the guy next to her…?” “That’s Fritz.” “What’s a Fritz?” “The one and only Fritz Oberhauser. He was Kyungah’s German ex, who turned up out of nowhere when I was on tour in South America.” “And they got back together while you were gone?” “Not exactly. Kyungah told me on the phone that she had met an old friend, that it was a guy and that I shouldn’t worry. So I didn’t worry. When I got back she started distancing herself from me, until one day she told me that Fritz had confessed that he still had feelings for her. Bear with me…” “I’m listening!” “She wanted to keep meeting him to figure out, where her feelings stood and I said yes! I wanted to say no! But every time she asked whether I was okay with it… I kept saying yes. What I really wanted was for her to decide now and then either leave me or stay. It took me a full 4 weeks until I was able to communicate that… Well, she moved out the next day. And strange thing is… I felt liberated. ty at first, but I felt good again surprisingly soon. It felt good not to falsly reassure a human being on a daily basis. And that’s that with me and Kyungah.”

“So you turned your mirror around?” “I did.” “And you’re gonna be fully honest for the rest of your life?” “I’m going to be honest about what I really feel for the rest of my life – to people who matter to me.” “That ain’t a big game changer. That list of people was pretty short last time I checked.” “Hyung, sugar coating the truth was invented so a certain degree of civilization could be possible. How’d you feel if I told you that you can’t dance in the least, your English grammar is a nightmare and girls always have and always will prefer me over you?” “That’s no way to talk to your much wiser and far more experienced hyung, now is it!” said Junho pretending to be annoyed. “A one minute older-hyung!” laughed Junsu and pushed his twin off the sofa. Junho picked himself up with ease and proceeded to clean up the empty pizza plates and drinks that were spread over the living room table.

When he came back from the kitchen he said: “I think there’s one thing left to do. Kyungah-wise.” Junsu looked at his brother in slight surprise. “Delete those pictures on your phone, you 15 year-old!” insisted Junho crossing his arms expectantly. Junsu picked up his phone. He took one last look at his ex and her Fritz, then he clicked the delete button twice in ceremonial silence.

^{1 the Japanese word for "convenience store"}

^{2 Nohara is Ayame's family name}

^{3 Nishi-Kasai is a real neighborhood in Tokyo}

^{4 The real name of Big Bang rapper T.O.P}

^{5 A popular male J-Pop singer}

^{6 = Hanja - but Japanese style}

^{7 The original trilogy - naturally}

Thank you for reading another chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Junsu's ex is entirely made up, but I reckon there is sadly lots of potential for a conflict between Junsu and his brother in real life. Junho changed his name to Kim Moo-young this year for unexplained reasons. I tried imagining what it's like to be stuck in the humongous shadow of your twin, whom you love, but who is usually busy travelling the world and selling out concerts - while you yourself are trying to succeed in the same area. I hope they get along well in real life! Btw - far as I know, they like doing sports together. Maybe the pizza and Star Wars marathon wasn't entirely accurate :O - forgive me!