Anata ga nihongo o hanashimasu ka?

Akashi turned on the lights inside the film room. Normally it was a place where the girls would wtch footage of themselves, an upcoming opponent or a particular match of interest and Junko would dissect it along with them. However, today, it was just Akashi and Julia and the two of them weren't there to watch film of any kind. Julia had, much to Akashi's surprise, sought out the sumo to help with her Japanese lessons. Akashi had come to speak English much more than her native tongue with almost all of her Dojo sisters being foreign. Her and Junko still spoke English even when it was just the two of them.

Akashi had managed to gather a few things. She honestly wasn't sure if she COULD teach Julia, but she was willing to do anything for her sisters, so here she was. She smiled and clapped her hands together as she looked over the blonde. "Ok, Julia-chan. I guess we should start from the very beginning?" She asked. Apparently Julia had almost no knowledge of Japanese whatsoever.

"You can at least count to ten, right?" Akashis aid, raising an incredulous eyebrow. "Ichi... ni... san... shi... go..." She began, counting on one finger.

*************************

"Ahhhh, I think I'll make some flash cards. That might work." Akashi said. "But those are the alphabets..." She paused. She was so used to it that she didn't think it was a big deal until she had to try and teach someone about it. "It might be better to just work on some vocabulary next. Familiarize yourself with basic words and phrases to help you get around. What do you think?" Akashi asked.

Julia had entered the film room of the Higurashi dojo for a much needed study session, though the agenda for this particular occasion was a bit outside of the norm. The blonde wasn’t here to pick apart her matches, figure out what she’d done right or what she hadn’t, and what sorts of things needed improvement. She was here to start learning Japanese. After living in Japan for over a year now, only recently had it finally become apparent that learning the native language of the country would make her life considerably easier. Julia had expected that enough people would speak enough English here that she could get by, and to an extent that had been true, particularly within AFW itself. But she’d been to several places, stores, restaurants, supermarkets and more and had to try to communicate with people who didn’t speak one word of English. And there was the fact that she’d even had a mountain of trouble on a recent supermarket errand she’d been sent on because, among other certain issues, she couldn’t read any of the labels!

Akashi seemed like the perfect person to help Julia remedy the issue. She was a native Japanese, a diligent worker, and was always willing to give a lending hand. Plus, Julia had hardly had a chance to spend any one on one time with the sumo during her time here, so this was a chance for the two to get to know each other a little better too. When Akashi suggested, starting from the beginning, the luchadora nodded. She didn’t quite know what the beginning was, but considering she could count the number of Japanese words she understood on one hand, it sounded perfect.

“Uuuuhhh.... I don’t think so...” Julia replied when Akashi asked if she could count to ten. For a moment she thought she might have heard refs do it in matches, but even then they’d always counted in English. So when Akashi started counting out with her fingers, Julia followed right along and repeated after her. “Ichi.. Ni... San... Shi... Go...” and so on.

Throughout her introductory lesson she’d remained completely focused, though the vast nature of the Japanese language seemed rather daunting, almost intimidatingly so, particularly after Akashi explained the alphabets. No, not the alphabet. Alphabets. English suddenly seemed pretty damn easy knowing there were only 26 letters to know. But it seemed like there were more Japanese characters than she could even count! Getting that down was going to take quite a bit of hardly practice, she could already tell. When Akashi asked what she thought, Julia thought for a moment.

“Hmm... I definitely think that’ll help. I do kinda wish I’d at least invested in some basic lessons before I’d come over here from the states. Might’ve made some things a lot easier, y’know?” she said with a chuckle. “I don’t know how y’all can learn so many different characters... Were they easy for you to learn?”

Akashi was surprised that Julia didn't even seem to know the basics of Japanese. this might be tough. Julia even seemed surprised that she asked Akashi how tough it was.

"Hai." Akashi said with a nod. "It's my native tongue, there was no issue learning it and calligraphy is sort of a big deal here so writing it was no trouble either." She said. "I learned English pretty early too, so I never really got too confused with any of it."

Akashi smiled. "You've been here for a while now and seem to have been doing fine. What made you decide to want to learn Japanese, Julia-chan?"

A part of Julia envied the fact that Akashi had learned Japanese and English fairly close to each other starting at an early age. It must be so nice to be able to just interchangeably use one or the other whenever necessary. Julia did have similar fluency with Spanish, but that wasn’t exactly the most useful thing to know here.

When Akashi asked her question Julia scratched her head, trying to think of where to start. “Well... I guess what really made me want to learn was the other day when I ran out to the supermarket. It was just a basic grocery run, but I had no clue what most things were ‘cause I couldn’t even read the labels.” Awkward as that had been, it hadn’t even been close to the most dramatic thing that happened there that day.

“I mean... Most wrestlers here speak English, and so do the people in management, so communicating in AFW’s fine and all. But a lot of times when I’m out in other places, that ain’t always the case, and it can be really easy to start feelin’ lost and confused if there ain’t someone there to help me out.” Fortunately that hadn’t been an extremely regular occurrence, but it had definitely happened enough.

“And I love interactin’ with the crowds when I wrestle, and the Japanese fans have been awesome. But sometimes when I talk I get the feelin’ a bunch of ‘em ain’t got a clue what I’m tryin’ to say, y’know?”

"Oh, I see..." Akashi said, nodding at Julia's explanation. She could understand how that might be but she wondered how Julia had managed until just now. Was someone else buying groceries or did she just guess before? "Hai, this place is very gaijin friendly." Akashi said, nodding some more. Akashi then smiled. "Oh, yes, the crowd feels your energy, Julia-chan, but I suppose if you want to have a conversation, that might prove difficult." Akashi pushed her finger against her lips.

"I hope that something like that wouldn't keep you from any extra gigs like meet and greets and things like that. If that were the case, then I'd talk to management for sure." She thought about it and hoped that it wouldn't. If it would, she would say something personally.

"So, how thorough are you looking to speak? Just enough to talk to the fans and get groceries or do you want to be fluent?" Akashi asked. "Because, it's kind of a different thing." Akashi said with a smile.

“No no no, not at all!” Julia replied to Akashi mentioned the extra gigs. “I’m always happy to do that stuff. But I think I could do more with those experiences if I could be more conversational with the fans. That was always one of my favorite things about wrestlin’ back in New Mexico. Hmm... I guess it couldn’t hurt to talk to management and see if they’ve got any ideas that could help out with that though.”

When Akashi asked about how thorough she wanted to get with the language, Julia had to think it over for a moment. “I think speakin’ well enough to talk to fans and readin’ enough to shop or travel on my own more would be ideal. Does that sound reasonable, or would it be better to try to become fluent?”

"Hai! I like doing it as well. I could spend time with my fans all day long." Akashi said with a bright grinned. She was sure she loved her fans as much as they loved her, if not more. They kept her going through the tough times. The times when it felt like everything she knew was changing.

She then looked over Julia. "Oh, well... writing is something completely different...' Akashi said. "It's not like speaking it at all." Akashi shook her head. "Kanji can be fairly difficult. For that, it might just be better to run through the basics. I think i can help you speak what you need to speak though!' Akashi encouraged.

"But, we'll figure it out. It won't be a big deal at all.' Akashi said with a smile.

Akashi took a drink of the tea she had made and smiled. "So, how is your family settling in, Julia-chan?' She asked offhandedly.

The sumo’s grin was infectious, and immediately Julia found herself doing the same. She could totally relate to that sentiment. It had been much the same for her back in New Mexico, though she did what she could here too. But once she had a decent grasp of conversational Japanese, then maybe she could get more involved with the fans here just as she used to back home.

When Akashi suggested just running through the basics with kanji, Julia nodded. “That sounds like plan to me. I doubt I’ll need to write that much anyway, so the speakin’ will definitely be the most important thing,” Julia replied before the topic shifted to her brother and sister.

“Jesse’s still adjustin’, but I think she’s managin’ alright.” She then chuckled a bit as she thought about her brother. “I think Josh found a lil’ lady he’s taken a likin’ to. Did ya catch my match recently with that new Irish girl, Peggy? Apparently she and Josh met after the match and really hit it off.” It would be entirely hypocritical for Julia to tease her brother for falling for a girl so soon after arriving when it had taken her about the same amount of time to wind up dating her boyfriend. Still, the thought of Josh and Peggy was both amusing and adorable.

But then another thought ran through Julia’s mind, causing her smile to fade a bit and a sigh to escape her lips while a hand ran through her hair. “They definitely weren’t happy ‘bout that whole thing with Gwen, though. I didn’t know she was keepin’ tabs on the promotion back home. They didn't either. Think that’s still botherin’ Jesse and Josh... And I’d be lyin’ if I said I didn’t feel the same, really...”

Akashi nodded at Julia's words. She was eager to teach the young blonde more Japanese and hoped that she could do it well. She had always thought she would teach once she was done with Wrestling, but she never thought it would be Japanese!

"Mm." Akashi nodded as Julia spoke about her family. She understood what it was like to have to adjust to a new place, even though Akashi had only ever lived in a few places in her life and had never left Tokyo. She'd seen it enough in her own life with her friends and the girls she called family.

"So soon!?" Akashi said with her eyes raised. "He didn't wait very long at all!" She laughed. "Hai, I thinks he might be joining. Junko-san has mentioned her. How was she to fight? I did manage to see it. She looked pretty decent." Akashi then turned her head in thought. Maybe she would talk to Jessie herself at some point.

However, her thoughts were diverted back to something less pleasant. "Gwendolyn-san." Akashi practically growled. "She's too bold! And I think she has Nik-san under a spell!" Akashi said, narrowing her eyes. "After all she's put us through, I can't believe that Nik-san supports her like that. it's hard to believe!" Akashi still hadn't made up her mind about it but she had been in Nikolette's position before so she also didn't want to judge.

"But I think what she was doing with your promotion is far more devilish." Akashi said. She looked carefully at Julia. "I don't know what the problem is, but if you need some help, I'll do whatever I can. You know that, right, Julia-chan?" Akashi said, looking over the cowgirl. "I mean, anything, too." She proffered, trying not to specifically state financial assistance. "To keep Gwendolyn-san's hands away from it or to help grow the promotion independently or along with the dojo." Akashi added.

"If you don't mind me asking, though, Julia-chan." Akashi said, leaning in and lowering her voice. "What struggles have there been?"

“She was great. Really a pleasant surprise.” Julia answered when Akashi asked about Peggy. “Me and Alaina sparred with her a bit once like a week or so before the match. I kinda got a glimpse of what she could do in the ring then, but I was really impressed with her performance in the match. She’s already an excellent grappler, and a lot more agile than you’d think just at first glance. She seems really determined, and I think she’s got a ton of potential... Sorry for throwin’ out that invitation to her without talkin’ to anyone first, by the way. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing, but I really do think she’d be a great fit here.”

Julia breathed a small sigh and nodded as Akashi talked about Nik and Gwen. “Yeah. I don’t get it either. Like, how could anyone... Ugh, I don’t know...” She shook her head. “I don’t wanna act like I got any right to tell her who she can or can’t date. But I don’t think it’ll ever make sense to me either.”

Akashi’s reassurance and offer to help momentarily brought a smile back to Julia’s face. “Thanks, Akashi. It means a lot,” she replied sincerely. Knowing her dojo sisters were so willing to help out if needed was as encouraging a thought as Julia could’ve been given, even though she hoped things wouldn’t get to the point where that would become necessary.

The blonde sighed again, then answered Akashi’s question. “It’s not a huge deal right now, but since...around Summer Splash last year, attendance and profits started goin’ down. It wasn’t a huge drop, but it’s been gradual and steady, and at the moment no one really sees any signs ahead that that’ll change soon. Right now they’re just tryin’ to bring in enough to help balance out what they’re losin’ to buy some time to figure out how to get people excited about the product again.”

Julia paused for a moment, and turned her gaze downward as she continued. “I didn’t know until after Gwen’s little visit, but I probably should’ve guessed. After I came here, any time they had a good match Jesse would email me the video of it. After a while I noticed there was somethin’ different. We used to have the place lit bright enough to see the ring and the crowd. But now the lights focus on the ring and keep it dark over the crowd. Usually it means they’re tryin’ to avoid showin’ empty seats, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt and assumed mom and dad were just experimentin’ with a new look for the show,” she said, then chuckled a bit while lightly shaking her head.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to be such a downer,” Julia said, then immediately tried to think of a better topic. That’s when something came to mind, a matter the blonde had been rather curious about recently. “Hey, Akashi... It’s kinda off topic, but can I ask you somethin’?”