The thunderstorm raged over the rural town of Toyone-mura in the Kitashitara District of the Aichi Prefecture in Japan. A place he was not from nor born anywhere near the area. No Jake Diaz, a once naive boy from Indiana, now abandoned in Japan by his father years ago when he left his then-wife and him behind. His mother was no help. When it came to custody she could care less about him. His mother was more than happy to pay his father child support if it meant she didn't have to deal with him. When his father brought them all overseas to visit his wife's, now ex-wife, family, he didn't know his last parent would abandon him as well in another country, no less. The woman he grew up with, thoughtful of like a mother, albeit an aloof mother but a mother nonetheless, abandoned him too in the wake of his father's actions. She didn't say a word to him when she dumped him on her family's doorstep before running back to her cab when he was just standing there like a confused ten-year-old. He never heard from her again. Not that he cared; he was quickly whisked off to an orphanage down in Osio that went by the name of Elizabeth Saunders Home.
The last eight years of his life had been one cruel reminder after another that he did not belong to the Japanese culture. How could he not feel like an outsider when he didn't understand the language, written or verbal. With no one willing to take him in back in the States, he was stuck in Japan until he could find a way to go home. However, as the years passed, he wondered if he even wanted to go back to the States seeing he had nothing left there to return to. Once he had reached the age of eighteen and the orphanage kicked him to the streets, he had to find work quickly or sleep in the streets. Which he did for a few days until the owner of the oden and ramen shop he has come to work at for the past three years of his adult life. The only good thing that came out of it all was that the Japanese government gave him permanent residence, something he knew would open up a lot of work when it came for him to do so.
The fragrant broth bubbled as he brought the noddle basket up and out of the hot liquid, shaking off the excess broth when he lightly struck it against the rim of the basket holder before dumping the hot Udon noodles out into the awaiting bowl. His eyes glanced up as a new ticket was added to the growing orders for that evening, which, in his opinion, was turning out to be a slow night. Not that he minded, really; he enjoyed the slower nights, and since he slept in the back room, he worked a lot of hours. Something he was happy for since he was saving up what he could to move out of the owner's shop and into his own place. Jake knew if he went back to the States he wouldn't feel like the outsider he is due to Japanese culture. He had nothing wrong with it. He was indeed an outsider who they were forced to take care of Jake, something he would always be thankful for. He had picked out a nice little property on the outskirts of town, away from everyone's judging eyes. Something he didn't blame them for. It was just their way when it came to foreigners especially that far out in the country like he was. When the orphanage kicked him out, he took the nearest train to the farthest place with what money he had would get him.
The soy sauce sizzled in the pan as he poured two teaspoons of it into the dish. His Japanese was crisp and fluid as he asked his coworker if he would get the duck breasts out of the refrigerator as he rapidly stirred the vegetables that went with the dish. His knife moved quickly over the cutting board as he sliced the duck adding four of the slices to the pan to reheat the duck, giving it a stir before he turned around and opened the rice warmer where their latest batch was resting. His hand moved mechanically as if he had performed the task he was currently doing a thousand times. Which he had as he packed the rice into the bowl before carefully plating it. He drizzled the contents of the pan around the mound of rice, taking the ticket off the cooking line, and rang the bell, placing the ticket on the counter and then the bowl and plate on top of it. His towel moved over the hot pan as he cleaned it out before putting it back onto the fire.
That was what his life had been like since he came to live in Toyone-mura. Not that he minded; it was quiet, the workers for the dam were decent tippers, and the work was steady if the pay was rather low. His blue eyes glanced up when the owner's daughter spoke to him through the gap of the shelving of the plating counter as he worked over the dumpling pan while his coworker went to the john. Jake nodded in recognition when she passed on the customer's praise of the food he had been served. As their night came to a close, normally around nine o'clock. There wasn't much of a nightlife in Toyone-mura, especially in the middle of winter; it was the reason the young adult population of Toyone-mura was moving out to the bigger cities to find work. He found that little town just what he needed. The only place in the world you will be lost forever, given how it still looked like it did from the 1990s. When the shop wrapped up, he was pretty much left to his own devices once he threw the lock and waved to the owner's daughter, silently telling her the store was in good hands.
Jake was sitting cross-legged as he got his paperwork ready to see if he could acquire the house he was looking at for free, given the government program he had just learned about. His thumb scrolled up on his screen as he sat hunched over on the little mattress he'd been using for the past three years. His eyes read down the screen, nodding along to what he had to do to get that free house. His grunt of annoyance filled the area, knowing he would have to go into the village and speak to someone at town hall to get the ball rolling. He was getting tired of sleeping in the back of a ramen shop. With the papers he needed sorted and tucked safely away, he rolled over and pulled the thin blanket to his shoulder, thinking of the time he would be living in his own house.
The birds sang as he walked through town towards the records building. A smile graced his face, seeing the tiles of the roof of the house he was interested in from below him as he crested the walking path down the slope of the mountain. Thoughts of advancing his life as he made his way down the steps that had been carved into the slope between the winding roadway. However, his eyes widened in recognition of what he was seeing as a strange light encircled his body.
"Oh, hell no! I am not getting Isekaied!" Jake screamed out in his native English. He tried to sprint out of the circle only to have his nose crash against an invisible wall denying him passage back to the life he knew. "Fuck this shit! I am not doing this, you hear me..."