Hi. It's me, Emi, again. Hope you are doing well.
Near the house I was staying in Oceanview, there was this park. I guess Brandon was the first one to tell me about it, the 19-year-old son in my home stay. Brandon is a bit of a gawky one, black hair, beady blue eyes, wiry arms, but I guess he has his charms. Yuuki from the mall says he's cute.
Anyway, this park has a splash pad, so Brandon, his sister Jennifer and I would go there on hot summer days to cool down. Inside the park on the way to the splash pad, we passed a couple of tennis courts, and deeper in their park, there are even more courts. I had fun that day, and when I mentioned it to my boyfriend Ryosuke, he suggested we play some tennis.
I'm more of a swimmer than a tennis player, but I did play a bit of tennis growing up. There is a tennis court near my parents' house. In Japan, tennis has a bit of a romantic reputation, a place where princes meet their future wives at courts with panoramic views high up in the mountains. In Oceanview, there are even more tennis courts than in Japan. There's one near Kenta's condo for instance. Tennis did sound like fun, so both Ryosuke and I bought some tennis wear and rackets and such, and went to go check it out.
This one park is quite beautiful really, fountains, picnic tables, a wading pool, a spider's web for climbing and large fields of green grass with trees along the edges. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I think the fresh air and greenery inspires people, gives them the freedom to kick back, relax and let loose a bit. This park was like a little oasis, a respite from the busyness of the town around it.
Brandon, Jennifer and I would go in our swimsuits, and run around, dashing through the spray from the fountains. The wading pool wasn't deep, but there was a lifeguard there watching over everyone. Brandon seemed quite taken with her. She was Asian American, maybe 19ish, long black hair, brown eyes, a cute face I guess but a bit heavier set than me. She wore this fire engine red one piece swimsuit, normal enough from the front, but fairly high cut at the back, showing off her quite sizable rear end. Whenever she bent over to help someone, Brandon's eyes would dart over in her direction, checking her out.
When I came with Ryosuke, we saw other strange things. One time we saw this American woman, maybe 25 or so, lying out in the middle of the grass sunbathing in a bikini. She was reading a book, but Ryosuke glanced over at her as we walked by. I was a bit annoyed, but let it go.
A bit later, we walked back that way. She'd taken off her top, and was lying face down. She saw us, and peered over at us kind of nervously. She was hiding her nipples with her towel, but we could definitely see quite a bit of her largish breasts. I was so shocked at the time, because there were like all these big apartment buildings just above looking down over where she was lying. Ryosuke gave me a toothy grin. After that, he was all over me trying to get me to go topless! Can you imagine? That would be so embarrassing.
A different day, we went back to that park. On the first set of tennis courts, we saw these two muscular guys playing tennis bare-chested. There were both kind of hunky-looking. Ryosuke was more interested in something at the side of the court. There was a woman lying there on a lawn chair, and I swear her swimsuit was so skimpy. It was a one-piece, but it barely covered her back at all. She was a petite woman, especially compared with her massive friends, and her pert little backside was sticking up in the air. It almost looked like she was naked. She had dark sunglasses on, but she noticed us, and gave us the most wicked grin. I guess one of the guys must have been her boyfriend. She seemed to be getting a real kick out of showing off her body. Ryosuke got all excited again. It took forever to get him to calm back down.
After that, Ryosuke kept trying to convince me to do the same kind of thing, lie out topless or naked by the tennis courts or wherever. It did seem like this park was a place where people feel free to shed their clothes, and enjoy the warm sun. I guess I can admit I did find the idea exciting... but I don't know. At first, I thought it would be kind of weird if I up and stripped right in the middle of the park. I do try to please him, push things, maybe play into his fantasies a bit, but I kind of want Ryosuke to think of me as pure, innocent, not wild or anything. It's sometimes hard to know how much is too much, you know?
When September rolled around, school started again, and Ryosuke had less time to come play. I decided to go back to the language exchange on campus. It was being held in a new place, this newish white building across from Satomi's dorm. The room was long and thin, but had big windows letting the sun shine in. Ayumi, this girl I kind of knew, was sitting at a table with a tall handsome western guy, an Asian man in a wheelchair and another Japanese girl, so I went over, and joined them.
The girl was telling them that she stayed in a home stay in the Philippines before coming to Oceanview. In their house, the bath was outside, so she'd strip naked, and bathe out there in view of the road apparently. Both the handsome guy and the wheelchair man got these big grins on their faces imagining her frolicking around in the nude next to the house. I'm pretty sure she liked the handsome guy, and was trying to get him interested. (I later found out that the guy's name was Paul. He's British, and I met him again at the outdoor barbecue).
Break time came, and the girl ran off. I asked Ayumi what she made of this other girl's story.
"Um... I guess I can see the appeal. In all the ads, Cebu has such beautiful beaches. Must be very freeing, exhilarating." Now I think Ayumi was just kind of musing out loud, not really meaning anything by it, but I tell you I was quite surprised by how open she seemed to the idea of stripping naked outside the house she was staying at. I just kind of stared at Ayumi. She is a cute girl, hair dyed brown, long eyelashes, arched eye brows, adult lips, but not that different from the other girls here. She was different though, both of them were, from my friends like Satomi for instance. I always have to push Satomi to get her to dress sexy, tease the boys or whatever. Ayumi on the other hand, didn't seem to see anything strange about this Philippines girl.
Ayumi noticed me marveling at her reaction, and rushed to change the subject.
"So... Emi, what have you been up to?"
I shook my head, and tried to snap out of it.
"Um, Ryosuke and I were playing tennis over the summer. We've kind of stopped though now that school has started again."
"Um, Masashi and Eric are playing tennis, and looking for people... women to join," she noted.
"Who's that?" I asked. She pointed them out. Masashi had a deep tan, a funny face, hair dyed red, not handsome exactly, puppy dog nose, but was obviously trying. Eric was tall, black hair, Anglo-American.
"Do you want me to introduce you? They invited me to come play too, but I haven't gone yet."
"Um, sure," I shrugged. We went over, and got talking with them about it. It turned out they played at the same park Ryosuke and I had been going to.
"Do you girls want to come?" Masashi asked straight away. I looked at Ayumi, and she seemed game. So that next Friday, we headed to the park, and met their whole group. Different people show up each week, but Masashi and Eric were the core. They brought rackets for the beginners, and tried to include everyone, get them up to speed.
A lot of us were Japanese, but one time this blonde woman came, Sally. She was something else. She came dressed in tennis wear of sorts, a pleated grey mini-skirt with a preppy sweater tied around her neck. None of it matched, and I didn't know quite what to make of her. When we took a break, and went to sit on the curb, she sat with her legs wide open letting us all see her panties. In Japan, women don't usually sit like that. I kind of wanted to warn her that we could kind of see the outline of her cooch, but I hesitated. Masashi's voice went up an octave, excited I guess at the sight of her bare thighs. It was kind of funny.
In December, the weather turned cooler, so Ayumi and I stopped going, but then in March, it warmed up, so Masashi messaged me asking if we'd come back. I was kind of looking forward to seeing them all again. After class, I popped home, and grabbed my tennis whites, before heading to the park. On the way in, I passed a few cherry trees. The flowers were in bloom, sending this flurry of pink petals floating down, covering the ground almost like snow. It reminded me of Japan. There people often go to parks in the spring, and sit under the cherry trees, laughing and making merry. Hanami we call it, flower viewing.
Down at the far end of this park, I found Ayumi, Masashi, Eric and a few new people outside the courts getting ready. There was a guy named Taka and a girl named Rina and one other Japanese girl whose name I didn't catch. I'd kind of seen Taka around at the exchanges, a big head, but kind of attractive, a bit edgy, streetwise, a hustler. Rina was just a slight willow of a thing, quiet, polite, wide-eyed, but maybe angling to be Taka's girlfriend.
"Hey, you made it," Ayumi smiled when she saw me.
I still needed to get changed, but when I checked the washroom door, it was locked up tight.
"I can't get in," I came back, and told them.
"It's a civic holiday," Eric noted.
"Maybe there's a place to change near the station," Masashi suggested. "I think there is a bar or something there... although that is a long way to walk."
We didn't have that much time, and I did want to get playing.
"Um... maybe I can just go around the corner, behind the washroom building, and change there," I mused thinking out loud. Masashi raised his eyebrows, clearly picturing me stripping naked. Eric laughed, imagining the same thing. I hadn't really planned to get naked, but now with them getting all excited, I began to wonder if maybe I should, just to tease them. Ayumi didn't look as keen, but she herded the rest of them away from that side, and then came back around the corner to help keep me safe.
"I don't know why they've locked the washrooms," I complained. "They are usually open."
Ayumi nodded, her lush lips pressed together, but the way she was looking at me, I think she could tell I was remembering the Philippines girl's story of getting naked outdoors next to her home stay. Ayumi just looked at me, wondering I guess if I actually had the nerve to strip out in the open like this.
I looked all around. The wall of the washroom was blocking the view from the east. North were the empty tennis courts behind a chain link fence. West was grass and trees (not cherry) and beyond that apartments. South there was this little side street with houses on it. The leaves on the trees were kind of blocking the view from the houses, but there were cars parked on the street. It was hard to tell if anyone was over that way.
