Yukari didn't like her new neighborhood. She couldn't understand why her family had to move in the first place, really - she missed her old room, her old school, her old friends. Now they were in the town of Yamaha and Yukari didn't have any friends at all.

Her parents had told her that it was okay, that she was new, that she would surely make friends soon. However, grade schoolers weren't very welcoming of new arrivals, and more often than not, Yukari found herself playing alone. Her parents, busy, preoccupied, focused more on matters of work than on matters of family, were often shut up with their laptops, so whenever she wasn't at school, Yukari would go outside.

Near her house, there was a small park with a small playground, usually empty because most of the people who lived in the neighborhood were old, their children all grown up. Yukari spent most of her time here, sitting on the swings as she stared up at the moon.

She wished she had a brother, or a sister - someone to spend time with, someone who would always be there. But she didn't. The loneliness ate at her heart.

Things changed, however, one spring night. Yukari had been on her way to the playground, as usual, when she saw her.

A girl, the same age as her, sitting on a bench, kicking her legs. Her hair was pale and tangled, a long strand hanging in front of her face, her eyes a serious sea-blue. Yukari hesitated, not knowing whether or not to approach her, but this girl looked even lonelier than she was, so Yukari decided to talk to her. Maybe they could be friends. Yukari felt a bit of her heart lighten at the thought of it. She walked over to the girl.

"Hi," said Yukari.

The girl said nothing, her head still looking down, legs still idly swinging. Yukari furrowed her eyebrows. Perhaps she didn't hear.

She tried again. "Hi!"

The girl looked up then, startled. Her eyes were large and luminous. "H-hello?"

Yukari grinned and stuck out her hand. "I'm Yukari!"

The girl stared at her hand as though it was a foreign creature. A silence passed.

"You have to shake my hand," Yukari clarified, rather helpfully she thought. "And tell me your name too."

The girl nodded slowly and shook Yukari's hand. Her hand was cool in Yukari's own, as though she had been sitting outside for a while. "I'm...Ia."

"Ia?" What a weird name. "Do you live here?"

Ia nodded.

Yukari smiled. "I live here too! Just down there," she waved her arm. "It has a red roof."

Ia looked. "That one?" she asked, raising a slender arm to point at it.

"Yup, that's it," said Yukari. An idea occurred to her. "Do you want to play a game?"

"A game?" Ia echoed. "What kind?"

Yukari thought. She didn't bring anything with her, no ball, no frisbee, and tag was only fun when you had a lot of people. "Um...how about we go to the playground?" Yukari's cheeks heated up as she spoke. Ia probably lived here for a while, she didn't just move like Yukari, so maybe she was bored with the playground. That would explain why Yukari never saw her there, at least. "O-or we can play something else, if you want. I didn't bring anything with me...I'm sorry."

Ia blinked. "The playground is okay."

"Really?"

Ia nodded and, for the first time, offered Yukari a small smile. "Really." Then, she got up from the bench and, to Yukari's surprise, took her hand. Ia pointed to the playground. "We're going there, right?"

Yukari was puzzled; wasn't that the only playground? Then again, Ia did live here longer than Yukari. Maybe she knew about other playgrounds. Still, Yukari didn't want to wander away too far from home, so she nodded and smiled. "Yeah, that's it!"

"Okay," Ia said, and without another word she started marching towards the playground, Yukari in tow. There, they played for quite a while, and when Yukari became aware of time once more, the sun was in the latter end of its set, the sky a dark purple. Reluctantly, she stood from the sandcastle they had been meticulously creating. Her parents didn't like it when she stayed out too late. "I should go home now."

Ia looked up, eyes wide with surprise. "Go? Why?"

"It's getting dark," said Yukari. She crouched down and looked at Ia. "Shouldn't you go home too? Your parents won't be worried?"

Ia shrugged. "It's not too late."

Yukari frowned, feeling a stir of worry in her heart. "You should go home," she said. "My parents say that when it gets too dark out, bad guys come."

Ia blinked at her before getting up to her feet, dusting the sand off of her legs. "Okay."

"Great!" Yukari smiled, relieved. "Then, we can play again tomorrow?"

At that, Ia's face brightened almost immediately. "Yes! Where?"

"We can meet over there," said Yukari, pointing at the bench she saw Ia at. "In the morning."

Ia nodded, absorbing this information. "Morning. Okay. I will be there." She said the words so seriously Yukari laughed. Ia talked kind of weird, but she was fun, and Yukari liked her.

"Do you go to school near here?" Yukari asked. If she did, then they could just play together at school. Yukari imagined what it would be like, sitting next to Ia. They could pass notes, eat lunch together, walk home together...

But Ia dashed her hopes when she shook her head. "No."

"Oh." Well, that made some kind of sense. Ia's clothes were pretty nice, even though they were dirtied now from their play. Maybe she went to some sort of private school. "Do you want me to walk you home?"

Ia shook her head again. 'It's okay," she said. "I can find the way back."

Yukari nodded, and that said, they walked part of the way back before splitting up at the stop sign at the crosswalk. Yukari watched Ia walk away, turning a left, then disappearing behind a corner. Then, Yukari broke out into a walk that morphed into a run the closer to she got to home. She couldn't wait to tell her parents about Ia, and the moment she opened the door, in the middle of kicking off her shoes, she shouted, "I made a new friend!"

"Did you?" her mother, seated at the couch, looked up from her laptop.

Yukari nodded. "Her name is Ia," she declared. "She lives here."

"...Ia? I didn't know there were other kids in the neighborhood."

"Well, Ia is," said Yukari, defensively.

Her mother raised her eyebrows and shrugged. "That's nice."

-xxx-

The next morning, Yukari hurriedly ate her breakfast of toast and eggs as she watched the small television installed on the kitchen counter along with her parents. It was boring stuff about money and stocks, but it was something to look at while she ate, even though Yukari didn't really understand any of it.

"I'm going to play with Ia," Yukari said once she finished wolfing down her breakfast. She hopped off of the chair.

Her father looked up at the clock. "This early?"

Yukari frowned. It was eight, which was around when school started. "Yeah!" Then, she realized that Ia and her had never really set a time for when to meet, and a vague worried horror passed over her mind. What if...what if Ia got up really early, like she thought Yukari meant the crack of dawn, and went out at four in the morning or something and waited for Yukari for hours? Yukari could actually imagine Ia doing that. Eight might even be too late.

All Yukari's father saw, however, was the expression of horror passing over Yukari's face, but before he could say anything, Yukari had already turned and dashed out the door.

A few minutes later, she dashed back in to put her shoes on.

-xxx-

To Yukari's relief, when the bench came back into view, Ia was sitting on it, humming and kicking her legs. In the light of the morning, she looked beautiful, almost like some kind of princess, if it wasn't for the fact that her clothes were decidedly modern.

"Ia!" Yukari cried, and ran faster until she reached the girl fully, panting. "I'm sorry! Am I late?"

Ia looked startled by Yukari's sudden entrance, but she shook her head. "No." Then, she smiled. "I didn't know if you would come."

"Why wouldn't I come?"

Ia bit her lip and looked down. "I thought you might forget about me."

"Of course not!" Yukari said. She grabbed Ia's hand. "We're friends. I won't forget about you."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise!"

Ia's face brightened and she jumped off the bench. "Okay. I promise too. Do you want to explore?"

"Explore?" What was there to explore in a city suburb? Still, Ia looked so enthusiastic, Yukari didn't have the heart to refuse, so she gave her a smile. "We can do that."

-xxx-

Ia knew a lot, Yukari found. Ia knew all sorts of random facts about the neighborhood, like who the streets were named after, and what the first building in town was. She knew the names of plants, pointing things out to Yukari as the two of them ambled down the sidewalk, and she knew about the birds. Since the suburb itself was built up from a marsh, Ia dragged Yukari over to the rough walking trail that overlooked a lagoon and enthusiastically showed her the egrets and geese, listing off what they ate. She even knew their flight patterns. Ia was smart, Yukari found; smarter than any other kid she knew.

"How do you know all this?" Yukari asked.

"I read a lot," Ia answered.

Yukari had only just learned how to read, and all the books her house had were basic picture books, stuff for kids just starting out, nothing that would possibly contain the flight patterns of birds. Not that Yukari was that interested in such things, but Ia's enthusiasm for knowledge was contagious.

Back at home, Yukari took out each book from her bookshelf and studied the covers. Fairy tales, Momotaro, Shibawanko. She still had trouble with some of the words though, so more often than not, her parents read to her. Still, she needed to practice, and it was in this spirit of determination that Yukari picked out the book on fairy tales (due to it being the biggest book on the shelf) and, tucking it under her arm, brought it to the kitchen table and clambered onto the chair, where her mother was typing something.

"What did you do all day?" her mother asked.

"I played with Ia," said Yukari as she opened the book. The hardbound cover landed with a hollow-sounding 'clunk' on the table.

At that, her mother looked up from her laptop and frowned. "Yukari...today I talked with one of my friends...you know Si Yu? Kim Si Yu?"

"Yeah," said Yukari. Si Yu (though she always spelled her name SeeU, apparently because 'English is cool') was one of the most popular kids in school. Not knowing her was impossible.

"Well, I talked to her mom, and she said that she didn't know of any Ia who lived in the neighborhood," her mother continued.

Yukari frowned. What were they trying to say? "Well, I played with her! Today!"

"You shouldn't tell lies, Yukari," her mother said, and sighed. "I know you're lonely, so why don't you try to make friends at school?"

"I do have a friend," Yukari said. "I'm not lying."

"Yukari," said her mother, "I know children have imaginary friends, but it's not a healthy habit to have. It's not good to play alone."

"No! I wasn't alone, I was with Ia! She's my...she's my best friend!"

A crease of worry appeared between her mother's eyebrows. "You need to make some real friends. Why don't you play with Si Yu tomorrow?"

"I don't like SeeU," Yukari protested. "She's loud and mean. Ia is nice and she's really, really smart. She's the smartest kid ever."

"When you make someone up," her mother continued, implacable, "they can be as perfect as you want."

"I didn't make her up!" Yukari's eyes began to sting with hot, frustrated tears. Why didn't she believe her? Just because SeeU's mom said she didn't know about her? That was stupid. Yukari would bet that she was just as stupid as SeeU. Ia was real. If she wasn't, how could she even be there? They held hands and talked and Ia knew about a lot of things that Yukari didn't. "She's real! I'll prove it to you."

Her mother was giving her a look. "Okay then."

-xxx-

At school the next morning, Yukari tried to broach the topic of Ia. In her mind, there was no way Ia was fake. Maybe she was new to the neighborhood, and just moved in, which is why no one had ever heard of her…or maybe it's just because she goes to a different school. Still, Yukari was certain that Ia had to exist. After all, if she didn't, how could Yukari see her and speak to her?

"Um…" Yukari said nervously as she turned to face her seatmate, Mayu, "so…are there any private schools around her?"

Mayu blinked owlishly at her and shrugged.

"W-well…do you know if there's any new kids in my neighborhood? I live up in, um, Vocalomakets…"

Mayu gave Yukari a strange look. "I dunno. I don't live there."

"Oh," said a new voice, and instinctively Yukari shrank. The high, distinctive, and haughty timbre of it could belong only to one girl. "Are you talking about your imaginary friend, Yukari?"

SeeU's voice was a little louder than the current speaking volume of the room, so kids looked over, suddenly, and horribly, interested.

SeeU maliciously continued. "My mom says we're too old for that kind of thing. She says that she's glad I don't make up friends."

Yukari looked over at Mayu, who was seemingly oblivious to the situation, having retreated back into her book. But Yukari had to stand up for Ia, so she glared at SeeU. "She's real!"

Cul, who had been sitting next to SeeU, started laughing. "Yukari's a baby! Yukari's a baby!"

"N-no I'm not!" Yukari protested, her skinny hands clenching into fists. She wanted to hit the red-headed girl in her face, but the faces of her disappointed parents flashed in her mind. And Yukari was way outnumbered, anyways. At this reminder of her own powerlessness, humiliated tears sprung to Yukari's eyes, which only increased the mercilessness of her schoolmates, like a shark to blood.

It felt like it took forever for the teacher to start and put class to order, and when she did, Yukari was slumped in her desk, sniffling pathetically. She could hardly wait for school to be over, so that she could go and grab Ia and prove everyone that they were wrong about her and that Ia was real, once and for all.

The moment Yukari got off the school bus that serviced her neighborhood, she immediately ran over to the playground to find Ia, who was sitting on the bench as always. At the sight of Yukari, Ia's face brightened and she jumped off the bench.

"Yukari!" Ia said with a smile that dropped once she saw Yukari's expression. "Yukari? What's wrong?"

Yukari bit her lip. "Ia, you have to come to my house."

Ia's brow furrowed. "Why?"

"My parents and my classmates don't think you're real," Yukari said in a rush. "They think I'm making you up. So we just have to show them you are!"

Ia paused. Then, she looked down at her feet. "That won't work."

Yukari stared. "It...it won't?"

"You're the only one who can see me," Ia said, head down. "No one else can."

Yukari felt a sick horror travel down her spine. Then, in a small voice, she spoke. "So...you're really...imaginary?"

Ia shook her head. "I don't feel imaginary."

Yukari frowned. "Well, if I made you up, then you wouldn't feel imaginary. You'd feel whatever I wanted you to feel." She turned away from Ia. Right when she found a new friend...except, she never really 'found' Ia at all. It was all in her head. She was just that - imaginary.

It wasn't fair.

"Do you think you made me up?" said Ia, softly.

"I guess so," said Yukari. "That's what my mom said." And later that night, she had overheard her father too, exchanging words, but one stood out - 'crazy'. Was she crazy? Shaking, Yukari stared down at her feet. What was she doing here? She should just go home. Just go home, and never talk about Ia again. "I…I should go. If I don't, then people'll think I'm crazy, and no one'll want to play with me ever again."

Yukari felt Ia take hold of her hand. "I want to play with you."

"You're not real," Yukari retorted, turning to face Ia.

Ia's eyes began to fill with tears. "Does this mean you aren't going to play with me anymore?"

Yukari swallowed. Ia looked so hurt. She was crying. And Yukari had so much fun with her...but Yukari didn't want to be crazy, and she didn't want to be sent away. "I don't think I can. If you're not real." She began to turn away.

"No!" Ia tightened her grip. "But...but I was so lonely before I found you. No one else can see me. Please," Ia began to sob, "please don't leave me alone. You'll forget about me, and you promised."

It was the most Ia had said all at once, and Yukari was caught. She stared at Ia, who was looking pleadingly at her through her tears. Ia, who was imaginary. Ia, who Yukari made up in her head...or did she? She felt so real, holding on to Yukari's arm.

Yukari didn't want to be crazy. However, one look at Ia's pleading, crying face, and Yukari crumbled.

"I can't tell anyone about you," said Yukari at last.

Ia stared up at her, a ray of hope lighting her expression. "You'll...stay with me?"

Yukari hesitated. This was it. It wasn't too late to turn back.

But Yukari couldn't betray Ia's hopeful expression. "I'll stay with you."

Ia stared at her, then, still sniffling from her tears, a wide smile crossed her face and she grabbed Yukari and hugged her tight. "Thank you! You're my best friend!"

Yukari hugged back, feeling the warmth of Ia, how her long hair felt against Yukari's hands. How could she be imaginary and so real at the same time? "You're my best friend too."