"So... you still haven't said why we have to move to Japan." The speaker was a teenage girl with short black hair and blueish-green eyes. She looked fourteen or fifteen.
"Your father was transferred over here a few months ago. You know that," her mother replied. She was a woman in her mid-to late thirties with dark brown hair and soft brown eyes. She looked every bit Japanese. "Besides, I grew up here. I've told you that my parents moved us to America when I was a few years older than you are now."
"Yea, but..." But what? "You were finishing highschool, not starting it. You said that you only had to go for the last few months before you graduated. That's better than all four years."
"Why must you be so stubborn?"
"Genetics. I got it from you."
The two fell silent as the older navigated the foreign streets. The girl stared mournfully out the window. She had never really stayed in one place for more than a year, so this wasn't anything new, but at her last school, she had thought she had finally found friends and something she liked to do. Never before had they stayed in one place long enough to make any real friends or anything like that. Twenty minutes later, they had left the city behind and entered pulled into the driveway of a house in a rural area. From what they had been told in the letters from her father, it had a lot of property and few neighbors.
No one else was there, so they let themselves in. There was a note on the table just inside the door. "Yukari, it says your room is here," her mom said showing it to her. The drawing was of the floor plan of the house. It truly was big. From where they were in the entrance hall, there was the living room ahead with the kitchen and dining room to one side. A hall that lead to the right ended with her parents' room, along with a study. One that went to the left ended with hers.
Yukari went back out to the car to get the few bags she had brought and headed to her room. She had never been a people person and never had a reason to, instead she preferred to be alone with her music and books. There had never been a reason to get to know people. Any friendships she did make were always broken when she moved and never heard from them again. Somehow this felt different. It was a big house that her father had bought, when all the other times they had rented something.
She stopped her musings as she reached her room. It was nice. A bed against one wall with a window opposite as well as one on the wall the headboard was against, a bookcase under one and a dresser near the closet. A desk was in one corner. A few shopping bags were sitting on the bed, as well as a large box. Dropping her things, she went to investigate. The box had a radio similar to one she had owned in America, only nicer, as well as a few books, some of which were in English. One of the bags had more books and a stack of CDs. The rest of the bags held clothes. She smiled. Her father knew her better than most people. Not only were the clothes the kind she would have picked out but there were two uniforms, a boy's and a girl's. She had always despised skirts, they got in the way.
Taking out the radio, she picked out a CD by Ali Project(1) and but it in to play. The radio went on top of her dresser and she proceeded to unpack the rest of her things. The process went quicker than usual. Having moved to a new country, she had less clutter to deal with, and only had to sort through the new things and what se had brought. Forty minutes later, she was stumbling over the words in one of the books written Japanese. Her fluency was poor, but she knew the language.
"You've made yourself right at home, I see." Yukari jumped. Her mother had entered the room without her even noticing. That was probably the result of the loud music. "Dinner's ready."
"What time is it?"
"Almost six. Next time we go out, remind me to get you a clock or something." With that, she left.
Yukari frowned. The time change had her confused. She knew it was normal, but it was bigger than the three hour delay between the East Coast of America and the West, by seven hours. Brushing it off -she knew she would hopelessly confuse herself otherwise- she went out to find the dining room.
Most of dinner pasted in silence and it was only after they were done eating did her mother bring up a real topic.
"You're starting school on Monday."
"What?"
"School. It's only October, so you wont have missed too much."
"Right..."
"Your father arranged for you to go to a good school, unlike your old ones, he said."
"Of course it wont be like them, it's a whole new country," Yukari muttered.
"Don't be that way. He even talked to them about whether or not you had to wear the girl's uniform. Remember that time in New York?"
"How could I not?" The only other school she had gone to with a uniform, and all girl's no less. She had never worn that school and gotten expelled because she refused to go after the third week. Deciding she was bored with the topic, she picked up her dishes and took them to the kitchen, her mother following.
"How do you like your room?" she asked as they left.
"It boring. There isn't a lot in there and the walls are too empty." Yukari then went back to said room and left her mother to plan the next day.
(1) Ali Project - if you know them, great, if not, I don't own them. They did te themes for a couple animes I like and I'm currently obsessing (somewhat) over them.
About the time zone thing... a lot of people probably already know it's a ten hour difference from Pacific Time (I'm in Washington state), call my stupid but I only just figure that out, with the help of my cell's world time thing...