Chapter 3

The three students had moved their chairs to the table filled with the prepared food soon enough, so they would not need to stand around it for the time being. Between bites, Daiki turned to Gabe. "We sadly don't have a Football team here at Yamatanuki, but maybe the Rugby team would be of interest for you, aren't those nearly the same sport anyways?"

Swallowing quickly, Gabe shook his head before starting a short explanation. "They may seem quite similar at first glance, but the allowance of one forward pass and differences in tackling rules lead to very different games." Picking up a ball of mochi filled with something or other, none of them were quite sure how to tell the fillings before biting into the mochi, the American continued. "But I have heard playing Rugby for sometime helping people get a different mindset for approaching Football, so I might check it out anyways."

Giving a short nod in response, Daiki returns to enjoying the food.

"Ah I actually got one question already." Laura says as she looks over the selection of juices and soft drinks on the table. "Where would one get a good, or at least decent beer around here?"

"Well if you want I can show you to my favorite bar in town later today." Daiki offers quickly, a faint smile on his face.

"Sure sounds like a plan."

A short while later, with a bit more idle small talk between them, the trio had eaten their fill.

"So now that the food is taken care of, let's show you guys to your rooms to drop off your luggage there before I show you the rest of Campus." Daiki said as he stood up, grabbing a can of tea to take with him on the tour he would lead soon.

As Laura stepped next to her bag, Gabe was already reaching down to pick it up. "You don't mind do you?" The american student inquired before actually touching the girls luggage.

"No, thank you very much." was her prompt response as she pulled her Suitcase out of the corner she had put it in earlier.

Outside the room, Gabe picked up the rather sizeable backpack containing his own things before Daiki took the lead, directing the trio through the corridors to one of the backdoors of the building. Out on the Campus they were met by more white paved walkways amidst immaculately kept green grass. Some Cherry trees, a few already in bloom, were scattered across Campus, throwing shade for the handful of students that were already on campus and sitting beneath them, some alone, others in small groups.

"As you guys can see, the area between the main building and the dormitories is a favourite place for many students to enjoy days, or even just afternoons, nice weather. Once the semester begins and all Students are actually here, most of the time it will be quite difficult to find free space in the shade." Daiki explains as they make their way towards the dormitories, which the exchange students can now clearly see were two buildings standing at a right angle to each other, connected by a roof-covered path.

"Understandably so." Laura responded, her gaze wandering all over the small patches of green between the buildings and paved paths.

Gabe kept quiet, as his eyes tracked a little racoon dog hushing from one end of campus to the other, carrying something he couldn't identify in its mouth.

A couple minutes later the trio stepped into the closer of the two dormitories, a couple young women passing them. The interior walls were fully covered by light brown wood paneling. The floor right inside the entrance was the same white stone used to pave the walkways across the Campus. One wall was covered completely by a series of small wooden compartments, a few of them contained shoes. At the end of this area, a couple of steps lead up to a wooden floor, where a rack of simple white slippers in various sizes stood ready.

As both Daiki and Laura took off their shoes and put them into the shelf, Gabe just looked at them confused, which prompted Daiki to explain.

"Ah you maybe don't know this, but here in Japan people don't wear shoes when going into their homes. So to make people feel more at home, the dormitories are set up in the same fashion." At this he points at a pair of flip flops close to where he put his shoes, before waving over to the rack of slippers. "Some students have their own footwear for use in their dormitory, but for everyone else there are slippers available to use, which are regularly changed and cleaned by staff."

Giving a short nod, Gabe took off his own shoes, while Daiki and Laura took a pair of slippers each from the rack, and picked up a third pair the local handed to the American.

Stepping onto the wood floor, Daiki lead the other two down the corridor, doors lining the wall to their left. All of them were numbered, some had nameplates on them, while most just had an empty metal rail where the name plate would be, presumably once a student moved in over this coming week.

At a pair of double doors on the other side of the corridor, Daiki stopped before knocking on them. After no reply cam from inside, he slid them open to reveal a decent sized lounge area complete with a number of couches and a pair of tables.

"Every floor as a couple of rooms like this, for students to sit together in the evenings and play games together, or just to be around others while reading or watching a video on their own."

"But why wouldn't they just go meet in one of their rooms?" Gabe wondered aloud, prompting Daiki to let out an amused chuckle.

"Because there simply isn't the space for that, you'll see for yourself in a moment." He responded, before leading the two just a couple meters further into the dormitory, where they reached a door adorned by a nameplate reading 'Laura Rosenthal', the use of romaji immediately standing out in contrast to the nameplates they had seen so far.

Unlocking the door with a key he quickly handed over to the new occupant of the room, Daiki slid open the door before letting both Laura and Gabe catch a view of the spartan interior. The right side of the small room was occupied completely by a closet, while the right side had a desk sitting next to a small waste bin and a nightstand, while the far side of the room had a bed, which was partially hidden by the closet on the right, and a decently sized window. Underneath the desk the young woman could make out one of the cardboard boxes filled with things she had sent ahead as told well before making her own way to Japan.

"If you could just leave your stuff inside for a bit, I'll show you where the entrance to the bathroom on your floor is." Daiki told Laura, and after a few moments of fitting her bag and the suitcase into the room, Laura closed and locked her door again.

It only took them a minute or two more, until they reached the door labeled with the kanji for 'bath'.

"Behind this is a small room to change in, with another door leading to the actual bath." Daiki began to explain once again. "As the dormitories are separated between men and women, each only has one set of baths for their respective inhabitants. But as there are no rules against simple mingling in each others dorm's lounges, there are smaller restrooms on each floor as well."

After turning to face Laura, he continues. "If you want, you can go and unpack some of your stuff while I show Gabe to his room, the dormitories are laid out nearly the same, so you wouldn't miss anything anyways."

"Sounds good, but where, and more importantly when, will we meet up to see the rest of campus?" Laura inquired, her face clearly spelling out how excited she was to see more of the University.

"Between the dormitories' entrances in about half an hour." Daiki suggests, and after a nod from Laura, they all returned the way they came, Laura splitting form the boys once they reached her room.