For this chapter, italics means it's in Japanese.
From: Riley Smith
To: Quinn Palmer
CC: Jordan Elliott
May 22nd
Your Application for Youth Exchange
Good afternoon Quinn,
I'm sorry to have kept you waiting this long. I know it must have been nervewracking for you. However, I am pleased to announce that the delay has not been without good cause. It is my absolute pleasure to tell you that you have been accepted as our representative to Japan this year! I've copied your Japanese teacher to this email to share the good news.
You'll be responsible for the airfare and you can find a job once you get there for spending money if you so choose, but we'll take care of visa fees, housing, school, and everything else. I don't have many details now, but you'll get them when I do.
Congratulations Quinn! If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and it's probably a good idea to start intensive Japanese tutoring under Ms. Elliott.
Riley Smith
Youth Exchange Coordinator
From: Riley Smith
To: Quinn Palmer
July 12th
Details on Your Exchange
It is my pleasure to tell you that we finally have a little more information about where you'll be! You'll be living with one other exchange student in a mid-sized apartment just two bus stops away from where you'll be attending school. Your roommate won't be attending the same school you are, but you'll be attending to Seishun Academy, commonly known to locals as Seigaku.
I attached the contact information for your roommate as well as a current student at Seigaku who was an exchange student herself. She said she'd be more than happy to answer any questions you had, and I thought it was a good idea to get the foot in the door with a friend before you even got on the plane.
Riley Smith
Youth Exchange Coordinator
From: Quinn Palmer
To: Valerie Majumdar
July 13th
New Roommates?!
Hi Valerie!
I'm Quinn and Riley (my exchange coordinator) spoke with your exchange coordinator and got me your contact info! I just wanted to say I'm really excited to live with you and I can't wait to spend a year abroad! Was Japan your first choice too?
Quinn
From: Quinn Palmer
To: Airi Nakano
July 17th
Seishun Academy
Hi Nakano-san,
I'm Quinn, and I'm not really sure if you'll want to call me Palmer-san or whether Quinn will work just fine. Really either is okay with me. I've never really been good at talking in real life, so we'll see if I'm any better in a virtual medium.
I'm eighteen (birthday last week!) and just out of my senior year of high school. My Japanese should really be better than it is considering how many exchange students I've been friends with. I imagine your English is way better. Our teacher said you'd probably been studying English more than twice as long as we've been working on Japanese. I'm pretty sure that if you were here and I tried to say your first name you'd laugh. My written Japanese is much better, mostly because of those few exchange students I mentioned. We used to pass notes in class in Japanese, and everyone would think we were keeping secrets, but mostly it was just her correcting everything I did wrong.
My teacher told me if I had any questions about school I could direct them to you because we were classmates. I don't really have any, but I figured it couldn't hurt to introduce myself.
Quinn
PS: Oh! Riley (my exchange coordinator on this end) said you were an exchange student yourself! Where did you go?
From: Nakano Airi
To: Palmer Quinn
July 25th
RE: Seishun Academy
I do apologize for taking so long to respond. Our first term just ended and we've been very busy. You're very right, your written Japanese is quite good. Teacher told me you were top of your class in Japanese.
I'm Nakano Airi, but you can just call me Airi-chan if you want. If calling you Quinn makes you feel more comfortable, I don't mind that at all! I'm seventeen, just a little younger, and happy belated birthday. If that's your only question, then my job is much easier than I thought. I studied in Norway, and it really feels like centuries ago.
I look forward to being your classmate! Feel free to let me know if any other questions do come up. There's a lot to do at school and we are in Tokyo after all, so I don't think you'll ever be bored here! I'm usually near a computer, so don't be shy!
Airi-chan!
Things went so slow until they didn't, and Quinn Palmer's life had suddenly taken a turn for the very, very fast. After months and months of waiting on the excruciatingly relaxed Riley Smith, she started to get some answers, and after she got those answers, it was like months of her life were flying by. In May, she hadn't even been sure she was going to be able to go anywhere. After working the entire year to finance an exchange opportunity, they said it might not be possible, and in a panic, Quinn told them she didn't care where they sent her as long as she got to go somewhere. All that work at Japanese be damned, she'd worked similarly hard for the opportunity, and she was going to get to go somewhere or die trying.
Her parents hadn't understood why she'd wanted to take a year off between high school and college rather than going abroad in high school or college, but they didn't really have to understand. This way Quinn had gotten to graduate with her class, and come college, she could focus on internships and the like. This was the ideal plan, as far as Quinn was concerned.
Packing the suitcase, though, it was hard not to feel a little heartsick before she'd even left. Excited though she was, Quinn ached a little as her cat climbed into what she'd packed, snuggling himself between a bra and a make-up case. Mewling followed as he flicked his tail against Quinn's nose, annoyed that she hadn't immediately followed with affection. With feelings heavy and light all at once, Quinn shooed the little gray-haired monster away, giving him a little kiss on the forehead as a goodbye. A year seemed like so long, and even though her mom would still have her sister, it felt a lot like she was abandoning them to be alone.
When her sister, Ellie, swept in, though, light on her feet like Quinn never could be, and they both fell to the floor in a heap of limbs and laughter, Quinn couldn't help but smile. "I'll miss you, sis, but if you don't have the time of your life, I'll never forgive you," her sister said. The grin Quinn received was so sweet it could make anyone sick, but the threat was still there.
"What if we go to one last movie before I leave? Go see if Mom's busy." The words came out of Quinn's mouth before she could stop them, and Ellie cocked an eyebrow, feeling out whether this was an excuse to put off packing a little longer. "All that's left to go in there is a few knick-knacks lying in my bedroom window," Quinn said, and that seemed to assuage Ellie. The fifteen-year-old skipped out of the room in much the way she'd entered it, calling out for their mother who was a little more reserved in her response. Quinn sighed and sat back, looking at the room around her and trying to come to terms with being gone from it for a year.
"Mom says the drive-in starts in an hour and it's a triple feature but we aren't going unless you've weighed your luggage and everything!" Ellie popped her head in and out almost as fast as Quinn could register her.
"Five minutes and I'm ready!" Quinn latched the suitcase and glanced through her carry-on one last time, tossing the knick-knacks from her bedroom window into the latter. She hoped the apprehension would dissipate upon having a little fun with her family, because the last thing Quinn wanted was to not be able to sleep the night before what seemed a monumental adventure's start.
The last thing Quinn saw before leaving the room was their little gray monster, curled up on top of the suitcase now that he couldn't crawl into it.
whoa welcome back to anime-land alexis. i read coffeelatte's surrealistically wonderful it's all greek and fell in love with prince of tennis all over again, and i watched about five episodes of the anime before making the kind of impulse decision i'm known for. i know the exchange student trope is kind of cliche, but i wanted to write it because my experiences as an exchange student were SO formative for me as a person. obviously i've aged them all up to high school because i'm twenty and i don't want to write about fourteen-year-olds falling in love because it makes me feel icky.
(seriously if you're ever looking for something good to read and you love atobe keigo like i do go read it's all greek because it may all be greek but it's also goddamn good)
i hope you enjoyed! this chapter is but a measly prologue so hopefully the next one will have a little more meat in it. please read and review if you do feel so inclined. :)
-syrasha