It was an icy feeling early morning, barely sunrise. I'd gotten no sleep, but it was no big deal. My stomach was full of good chicken, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I'd only be on duty until 3PM, and today was going to be an interesting day, far from the norm.

My general manager was standing next to me. He was in his late fifties, comfortably in middle age. He was stretching in his suit, just like the hundreds of participants before us, getting into the spirit.

"It's going to be a triumphant day," he said to me again, and I nodded, being respectful. He didn't actually want me to respond. 

The plan was to start in this park. We'd have a fun family morning, doing athletic activities. There were events planned throughout the park, lots of choice. In particular, the jump roping contest was fun to me. I could imagine myself participating, absolutely beating anybody who tried to best me. Seeing everyone here, it didn't seem like there was a serious athlete among them. I'd been a swimmer in school, and I'd won a few competitions. I'd furthered my athletic pursuit in college, and in the military I was among the most physically fit. I'd continued on, lifting weights, and swimming in the pool by myself at the gym. It was a hobby of mine to go to the gym. It helped me zone out, not think about what was going on around me. If this were an alternate universe, I'd have so much fun today.

Instead...

My general manager stepped up the the stage that our maintenance team had erected even earlier for him. He had a megaphone. My mind wandered to Kazuya, who probably was still in his kitchen making treats for Zombie Walk. I wanted to go. I had wanted to ask him when it was, but I'd been so absorbed with trying to do my best not to mess up the treats for it that I'd forgotten. I'd ask him today. Was it going to be like a Halloween event? I wanted to dress up. What would he want me to be? What was he going as? 

I was wondering if there was any info about it in the previous week's Rainbow Edition, which I'd failed to pick up, when my general manager started speaking.

"Good morning! Welcome to Race for the Children! Your children! Haha!"

Awkward. Everyone clapped politely for him. 

"Today you'll find different stations around the park. This includes a rock wall, tug of war, jump roping, skate boarding, and there are biking trails. There will be a badminton tournament, and there are ping pong tables set up. Of course, for the ladies there is yoga and Pilates!" 

For the ladies. Why did it have to be assumed that only they'd be interested? Pilates was invented by a man, after all. I enjoyed it myself.

He went over the list of activities. It would last all morning, tiring everyone out. Then, a 5K run would start. The first runners would get to the hotel by the intended course in about fifteen minutes, with the others trailing behind by anywhere to twenty to thirty minutes. Each family would choose family members for this, but everyone had to be at least twenty years old. Adults only. It was for safety reasons, since anything could happen on an open street. That was my managers' decision. Personally, I thought the idea of children participating was fun. Who said it had to be an actual race? And who had thought of the name Race for the Children? It didn't make any sense to me.

But, my mind was still on Kazuya and his friends. How we'd yelled up at Kim-san this morning, getting him to come down and make us food even though he'd posted clear new hours in the Rainbow Edition. That defiance, setting their own rules if they simply protested them. What an idea. It was giving me energy more than the pile of chicken and fries I'd eaten. 

My job this morning was to go around to various stations, asking how people were doing and if they needed any assistance. My only true hope to participate was to spot someone as they did something difficult. Maybe hold their feet if they needed help doing sit ups during a timed trial, perhaps hold the end of jump ropes for double dutch if I was lucky. Maybe, I could start up double dutch...

My general manager launched the activities, and families happily bounded off together across the park. They were all dressed in expensive new outfits, track suits and athletic hoodies, yoga pants and sweat pants. I wanted to be in my workout clothes, too. My suit was warm, but it was restrictive. If I sweated in it, and the goal was to sweat today for everybody, then I'd have to dry clean it today. I wouldn't be able to wait. 

I found myself at the jump roping station in the parking lot. A lot of families hadn't listened, parking in the lot when we'd clearly advised them to park on side streets to make way for exercise stations that would be there. Disappointed, I saw that there was a very reduced space for any of these activities now. The jump ropes were on the concrete, untouched, because there simply wasn't enough room.

What a waste. 

They were curled up, carelessly thrown down by our maintenance team this morning in a rushed set up. Some looked tangled. As I stared at them, there was only a lonely feeling. My mind went to Kazuya in his kitchen again, working hard with so much attention to detail. He'd never throw these jump ropes down like this. He was meticulous in everything he did. 

I was almost through placing them properly, crouched down as I untangled one from another, when something pressed into my back a few times. I craned my neck, half turning around. What met me made me smile.

A little girl and her brother were staring at me, the little girl holding up her finger, evidently having poked me in the back. 

"Yes, how may I help you?" I asked, immediately going back into hotel mode.

"We'd like to play with those," they said, pointing at all of the ropes. 

"Oh, okay. I'll clear out of your way." I got up, starting to walk away.

"Wait, big brother," the young boy called to me. I turned back to them.

"Hm? Yes, what is it?" 

The young boy picked up a jump rope. It was much too long for him. My finger went up, scratching the side of my head in thought, searching the ropes for one appropriate for his small size. He seemed to be maybe six or seven, if I remembered from my cousins' sizes right. As I searched, the girl skipped over to the other side of the small space, and the boy stood in the middle of the stretching rope that she'd grabbed from him. 

"Big brother!" The girl called to me.

"Yes?" I was smiling now at them, watching them have fun.

"Grab the other end!"

Oh, what was this? I picked up the red handle, and it lifted up off the ground as the girl reached it over her head, trying to match my height. I chuckled, crouching a little to get more level with her. The boy poised in the middle, ready to launch at any second.

"Ready?!" The girl called to me. 

"Ready!"

And like magic, she started to sing a song, and we were swinging the rope over itself to its rhythm. To my surprise, the boy was pretty good. It wasn't a song I knew, but I wanted to join in on the singing. 

Pretty soon, a bunch of kids, tens of kids, must have been gathered around us.

"You're pretty good, big brother!"

"Are you from the hotel?"

"You look like a Yakuza. Yakuza are pretty cool."

"My turn!"

"No, my turn!"

They picked up ropes, too, and suddenly there were three children trying to jump our rope. They all found the rhythm, and it was a chaos. I was laughing and so were they, tripping over themselves, not paying attention. 

Maybe it was going to be a better day than I had imagined.

Around 11AM, my managers and I were on our way back to the hotel, following the families who'd chosen to walk rather than drive to our event. The 5K runners would have reached the hotel now, full of triumphant stories for their families of who'd gotten there first. Surely there'd be a liar or two, a boaster, saying they'd gotten there first. 

Despite my reservations, I'd had a lot of fun today. I'd manned the jump rope station, it was mostly populated by kids. I don't know why that surprised me, because now that I thought about it, jump rope was a popular activity for kids. At one point, they'd made me jump a rope by myself, counting how many times I was successful. I'd started jumping at a rapid pace, using two steps, way too quick for them to count, and they started screaming and cheering, some of them saying swear words, jumping up and down in glee. It made me wish we'd had hula hoops, too. I could hula hoop and make them excited even more. Kids like hula hoops. There's so much we could have done, making a station just for kids. Maybe next year... If I could show the hotel I was enthusiastic about the event, then maybe they'd let me help plan it? 

I was still hyped up about it. Smiling, thinking about all the kids. Most of all, I was thinking about Kazuya. He probably would have enjoyed it, too. The kids would have loved him. I could absolutely see him jumping the rope with them, joining in on their mocking taunts, laughing his trademark laugh. 

"You did pretty well today, Park-san."

My head jerked toward my general manager, who was watching me as we walked. "Um- oh, thank you, sir."

"I saw you playing with the kids. That's the right spirit. A lot of our staff weren't participating. But, you're pretty athletic yourself, aren't you? I don't think a lot of our staff could keep up, but that's just my opinion."

"Oh, maybe. I do enjoy staying fit. And well, the kids loved it." My ideas were ever present, ready to spill out of my mouth. Was he listening to me? He never did before. Had I impressed him? "I think next year, we could bring in more kid friendly activities. Maybe, for example, in the parking lot we can have a bike race just for them? I was thinking about that."

He was nodding slowly, clearly hanging onto my ideas. Was it working? I couldn't believe it. "Yes, yes. This is good. Their parents would be delighted. More people would want to participate. Maybe we can have kid friendly prizes."

"Oh, absolutely, sir. They would enjoy it."

"These are excellent ideas. When we get back to the hotel, let's meet in my office. I was very impressed by you today. You really did do an excellent job."

"Thank you, sir. It would be my pleasure to meet with you."

With that, we exchanged further smiles and walked on. In my mind, I was jumping up and down more than I had with the jump ropes. By doing what I wanted, I'd further gotten what I wanted. My defiance had worked, but instead had turned into a triumph all my own. Maybe, Kazuya and his friends had something going with doing what they wanted, rather than what anybody else said. Maybe, it could work for me, too, and already was.