1: The glasses and the pigtails
"Mum, why are we moving?"
The Sanban family clustered the house, busily packing belongings in their suitcases, the furniture covered in clear plastic wrappers.
The eldest daughter, who had been folding her many sweaters, paused and raised the question. She beckoned to her mother through her bespectacled eyes and frowned slightly.
"Well, Kuki," her mother began. She gazed at her daughter and formed a smile. "You know that we're returning to our old home again. The one we lived in before we moved to your grandparents'.. remember? It's been 2 years now. I really miss the old place."
Kuki let out a sigh and nodded. She once again concentrated on the pile of clothing beside her, and took one article out.
She slowly fingered the familiar texture of the faded green sweater on her lap, blinking once, and fumbled with the loose thread that stuck out at the hem.
"I hope they still remember me. "
Kuki's POV
Mum isn't listening to me.
"Mum.."
I guess I can't blame her. The radio is awfully loud and I found it hard raising my voice.
"Mum.."
I slumped back onto my seat, giving up on trying to strike a conversation. There was this book I read last night.
"A guide to making friends in high school: overcoming shyness." And well, one of the ways to practise speaking up is by TALKING to someone you really know first, then gradually to strangers. It's quite hard, really.
I pushed my (poindexter) glasses up and stared out the window, watching the white lines on the hard ground blur and clash with the bitumen of the crackling road. My head rested on the window and I felt every tiny bump on the road throbbing against my forehead.
It used to be so easy. Being not shy, I mean. After moving to Nana's in Tokyo and leaving Sector V.. even though I was a Teens Next Door, I didn't feel like one. I couldn't do missions as a team. And it hurt me to know that they were all together, and I wasn't.
For some reason, when I started school in Japan, I became a rather quiet person. My sunny disposition was gone when I began missing them. There was no way to contact them and I never heard from anyone back in the States. Eventually my eyesight became worse from reading in the dark and I had to wear these thick glasses. I could still see, but kinda.
The car screeched loudly. Mum should be careful, she nearly hit the car in front. She honked loudly like the badass she was, and mumbled something indistinct. Then she turned to face me.
"Have fun in school, honey!"
She pecked me in the cheek and turned back to the steering wheel. I quickly got out and shut the door.
The sounds of giggling and emotional greetings reached my ears. I felt alone.
Glancing at the source of the sounds that made me unconveniently nostalgic, my fingers immediately reached for my hair that I tied in low pigtails earlier in the car.
Is this a weird get-up? Everyone has their hair down..
Taking a deep breath- one of the things that was written in the book-, I placed one converse sneaker in front of the other, and watched my feet flimsily squeak against the morning dew grass, trying hard to ignore the deadly butterflies roaming in my stomach.