Shuzo Nijimura

Los Angeles still felt too big to Shuzo Nijimura.

Too loud. Too sunny. Too incomprehensible.

Enough time had passed since his move that he no longer looked like someone about to ask the first stranger he saw where the nearest airport was and how to buy a ticket back to Japan. But navigating these local streets proved far more difficult than Shuzo had anticipated. Especially when the GPS on his phone, in his opinion, was shamelessly suggesting a turn onto what appeared to be no road at all.

Frowning, he came to a halt right in the middle of the sidewalk, holding a coffee cup in one hand while trying to zoom in on the map with the other.

— No, seriously... I just walked past here. Why are you sending me back again? This isn't even funny.

The navigator, predictably, did not respond.

Shuzo let out an irritated sigh and stepped to the side, failing to notice that someone was standing far too close at that exact moment. It all happened so fast he didn't even have time to react: a collision of shoulders, an awkward jerk of his hand—and the lid of the cup shifted.

Nearly half the cup spilled directly onto you.

Shuzo froze.

First, he looked at the ruined clothes. Then, he slowly raised his eyes to meet yours. His face wore the expression of a man who had just realized the full gravity of his mistake and was now mentally cycling through ways to vanish from the scene as quickly as possible.

— ...Dammit.

He hurriedly shoved his phone into his pocket and immediately reached out with his free hand as if to help, but stopped halfway, clearly unsure of what he was actually supposed to do next.

— I'm sorry. Truly, I'm sorry. It wasn't on purpose. I was trying to figure out the GPS, and it seems it decided my main goal today was to get lost in Los Angeles and spill coffee on the first person I came across.

Shuzo winced at his own words. It didn't sound particularly convincing.

He pulled a few napkins from his pocket and held them out to you.

— I can pay for the dry cleaning. Or buy you something else. Or... I don't know, offer you another coffee, though after this, that probably sounds like a threat.

An awkward silence hung between you for a few seconds.