Chapter 6 S.J.K

Arittakeno yume o kakiatsume
sagashi mono sagashini yuku no sa ONE PIECE

rashinban nante jyutai no moto
netsu ni ukasare kaji o toru no sa

HOKORI ka butteta takara no chizu mo
tashikameta no nara densetsu jyanai!

kojin teki na arashi wa dareka no
BIORHYTHM nokkatte
omoi sugose ba ii

arittakeno yume o kakiatsume
sagashi mono sagashini yuku no sa
POCKET no COIN, soreto
YOU WANNA BE MY FRIEND?
WE ARE, WE ARE ON THE CRUISE! WE ARE!
(Song from TV animation series One Piece)

What story can I take as a symbol to represent what is shared amongst Shaggy, Jason, and me? One Piece, the story of a kindly-hearted, stupid kid called M0nkey de Luffy persuing his dream of becoming the king of pirate, getting the mysterious treasure buried by the previous pirate king.
Of course none of us are pirates. Especially for the two of them, descendants of the nomads from northen Mainland China.

It was quite interesting how we recognised each and every one. I don't know the situation in the States, but in UK, one couldn't possibly ignore oversea students from China. I was shocked when I first met them. Entering the accommodation and you hear Chinese spoken in the so-called mainland accent, smelling the dishes so familiar, somehow you feel dislocated. I was greeted. I accepted with, how odd, slight fear. Around the table sitting Jason, Sherry, Candy, Jay, Jeccie, all speaking in different accents. Candy was the cutest, youngest, and not to our surprise, the most naive one. But it was also her the most impressive to me at my first night in Colchester. With an ambition to develop a career in mass media, she asked me lots of question about media in Taiwan, and to everybody's amusement, I knew much less than she did. How on earth would I know those sort of things? I didn't even care. But then I sighed that the entertainers reunited the two Sino-countries.

Jason and I got close because of Rock and Roll. I was always shy, and, facinated by the decadents. Well, used to. But these are not the most distinct characteristics of Jason. Jason was, well, was, a womaniser, and he made it bluntly. Shaggy is another type. He was like a prince, at least when he played piano, he looked like one.
And I was like a strange creature amongst them.

First chat with Jason, he knocked my door and asked if it was possible that we talked. I was generally defensive. Jason took the first step, so he was welcomed. We talked a lot about everything. Mostly about politics, and rock and roll, and movies, and UK, and life. You see, that's what a nice conversation should be, pointless, not focused, just enjoy the moment together.

And friendship, just like relationship, always came to a point that needed to be taken forward, otherwise it would fail.
When she left, I was invited to Shaggy's place, three of us, "like men," talked and drank. It's a typical thing oriental males do, when upset, they drink. Yet it was first time for me. I had nevr been into that that much. I had always been the last one with clear conscious in the scene when all others were drunk, and I sorted things out for them. But that night, I didn't care that much. I somehow knew that I was accepted in the circle and I needed not defend any more. It would be them care for me, not the other way round.

So a winter, and then a spring we spent time together. At the end of the winter, Jason fell with a girl from Shanghai, and the story was, well, a good laugh, to me at least. Shaggy was the prince, remember? So, in real life, like princess in fairy tales, prince got troubles.

One night I remember at the end of that spring. Shaggy was upset, maybe, over his relationship with a lass in Beijing. I guess. He never explained. Anyway, he asked me and another girl to join him on a short trip to the beach. With loads of beer, and the cheap guitar Shaggy, Jason, and I bought together. Maybe it was loneliness, or the sense of abandoned, I don't know.
At night, at the beach, we couldn't see very far. The ocean was as dark as the sky, and there was almost no light there. Shaggy and I both played guitar, and we sang. But he remained speechless. I didn't know what happened. However, given how much I cared about him, I didn't ask anything. I myself was drawn by the scene and memories stirred up by it. I recalled when in army, I stared at the sea everynight like that, thinking of her. I wrote, and I made phone calls. And she did the same. How could love fail? I don't know. Is it a relationship built on seperation? Is it longing shapened by waiting? Is it at the point where imagination meets reality that we could possibly love, and once getting across the fine line in-between we lost?
I started singing "With or Without You," just to get the thoughts, all mixed up, off my head.
I'd never sung like that, yelling like a rock star on stage, yet also like the last man crying to the one above, or maybe I was just not caring the two sitting behind me any more.
But when I finished, I found Shaggy with tears on his beautiful face, cuddling the other girl.