Title: Courage

Pairing: None

Tugging nervously at one of her pigtails, Chiyo Mihama glanced out the airplane window and took a deep, steadying breath. She knew she shouldn't be this nervous. It wasn't as though she hadn't seen America before, after all. She and her parents had visited it at least twice on holiday.

But…still, she could not quell the tight knot of anxiety that lurked in her stomach. This was different than any holiday. This was the definitive it. For better or worse, once she left the plane, she would be irreversibly in the middle of something new, different and altogether scary.

"Are you alright?"

The question came from the boy sitting next to her. He was a fellow exchange student – although he was from Korea, not Japan – and despite the fact that he spoke neither English nor Japanese very well, he had been able to communicate a generally friendly air to Chiyo.

She attempted to give him a smile in response, but gave up when her lips would not form one. "No," she confessed.

"Oh," the boy said, nodding understandingly. "I see. Is frightening, yes?"

"Yeah."

"I am frightened as well. But can forget about it, usually."

"Why's that?"

The boy shrugged. "Friends," he said simply.

Friends.

"You can do anything when friends love you."

Chiyo suddenly, vividly, pictured her own friends sitting on this plane. Kagura and Tomo, talking too loudly and laughing raucously at their own perceived cleverness. Yomi, sitting next to the two, pointedly ignoring them with her nose in a book. Osaka and Sakaki, both staring dreamily out of the window.

They would not let her be frightened. Kagura or Tomo might give her a punch on the arm and tell her to lighten up, while Yomi would enlighten her with a scientifically-based remedy for anxiety. Osaka would no doubt spout some random, seemingly meaningless advice. Sakaki might give a bit of stoic reassurance.

Chiyo laughed softly to herself, picturing these reactions. They were all so different, and yet…

Every single one of them would hug her. Every single one would say: "You can do it, Chiyo-chan."

And every single one would let her know that they loved her.

Chiyo smiled at the Korean boy, a real smile this time, and thanked him.

My friends love me, she told herself as the plane touched down. It was all she needed to know.

With that knowledge hovering in her heart and mind, Chiyo Mihama stepped off of the airplane and went forward, into the rest of her life.