When I woke up, the pit of my stomach hurt like crazy. It felt like the kind of pain you get when you're hungry — it really throbbed. It throbbed even when I turned over in bed. Just when I thought it had eased, it throbbed again a few seconds later.
It wasn't the kind of pain you'd call a stomachache, but a sensation like the lining inside my stomach was raw. I hadn't eaten anything yesterday, so I think my stomach acid probably came up too much. After taking a shower, the pain went away for a while.
When we arrived at the venue, there was nothing.
I was planning to go to a Japanese event with Nata today. I finished my work beforehand and probably worked for about four hours. I was really hungry, so around 2 PM I ordered cheese khinkali and khachapuri at Racha. The khachapuri had white wine in it and had a very distinctive taste. But it was delicious. The inside of Racha was sealed, and the steam reached the seating area. I ended up smelling like the food.
When the time came, I met Nata at the station. While waiting and listening to music, Nata arrived about 20 minutes late. We walked together to the place where the Japanese event was supposed to be. Nata seemed to have caught a cold. Apparently she got a short-term job at a convenience-store-like place around Christmas. Is it really that hard to get work in Georgia? I think Nata is expressive and would definitely be good at acting. But I can't say much since I worked part-time at a convenience store when I was a university student. I'm really happy to be able to live in Georgia like this now.
The only thing I dislike about Tbilisi is that sidewalks suddenly disappear or become narrow. There are places where crosswalks are extremely scarce, and it's really confusing. I walked talking about that with Nata.
We approached the place that was supposed to be the venue, but there was no sign of it at all. Wait, why? Even when we checked the location for the Japanese event, it's here. Here. But no one was there and the Japanese event wasn't taking place at all.
We were bewildered. Could it be—
When we checked the flyer again, it really was strange. From 1 PM it's anime songs, from 2 PM it's rock songs, and the event switches every hour all the way until midnight. With almost no people, how on earth are they supposed to hold that?
When we looked at the title again, it said "Radio Web."
Ahhh, we messed up.
We burst out laughing. It was a web radio show. Not an actual event. I laughed and said, "Sorry!" Nata said it was both of our faults since neither of us had checked, but it was all my fault. I hadn't properly checked.
But if this miss hadn't happened, this night wouldn't have been born.
A walk to Freedom Square
Since Freedom Square is so pretty, we decided to walk there. I love walking, but Nata hadn't walked for a week and was really out of breath on the way. She'd apparently been laid up with a fever recently. We slowed our pace and walked.
While walking, we talked about a Japanese band called BUCK-TICK. Nata loves this band and apparently loves visual-kei groups like X JAPAN. I have almost no knowledge of Japanese music, so I thought I should learn a little for times like this.
We walked across Dry Bridge to the park. I talked about shampoo. My hair is very coarse, but when I use conditioner bought here it gets really frizzy. My hair gets damaged, so I need to bring Japanese shampoo and conditioner. Nata's hair is very smooth, so when I asked what she uses, she said she uses whatever her mother bought — she doesn't even know the name. Well, of course (laugh).
We arrived at Freedom Square. We'd walked a lot and were tired, so we rested on a nearby bench. We talked about fashion and technology. Getting a driver's license in Georgia is overwhelmingly cheaper than in Japan — about one twelfth the cost. In Japan it costs around 300,000 yen, which is really too expensive. She told me it's good to get the license in Georgia and then switch it to Japan.
Real-life RPG and ice cream
It started getting cold, so we headed toward Rustaveli station. We tried to go to McDonald's but there were too many people, so we went to a nearby ice cream shop. I ordered ice cream and English Breakfast tea. The second floor was free, so we decided to talk there.
The topic was the game Nata participates in. I had often seen her go into the woods with dozens of people, cosplay and act, so I was curious. When I asked, she said it was like a human RPG game. They have a dedicated currency, you can learn spells, and you can fight.
"One day, I was kidnapped and taken away in the game. The barbarians kidnap me a lot. But none of my companions helped me, you know—"
It really was a real-life game. Having dozens of people do serious cosplay and take part in an RPG would be impossible in Japan. She told me about it for about an hour.
Partway through I had stomach pain, so I decided to go buy medicine. We went to the metro with Nata. I rode one stop, Nata rode two. Nata really dislikes holding onto the handrail too, so we're the same in that way. We talked about how the metro in Georgia is very noisy, while Japan's metro is really quiet so you can hear people's voices.
We hugged and said goodbye. I hope we can meet again before I leave Tbilisi.
The event didn't exist. But the night I spent with Nata was a more precious time than any event.
