I looked up at the sign and took a deep breath. Bunkyo Tokyo. I had finally arrived but the entire journey had seemed like a dream. The kind of dream that you can remember bits and pieces of, but you can't recall the whole thing. The driver smiles kindly at me and hands me my bag. I try to smile back at him, but it ends up as more of a pained look. He walks around the back of the car and comes back around with my small purple suitcase. I take it from him and give him a polite nod. He looks at me surprised and somewhat confused.
" I can carry it for you miss." He says.
I shrug slightly.

"It's not a problem for me. Thank you anyways."
I walk away from him; the only sound my suitcase rolling against the pavement.
My name is Rosalina Juarez. I was born in Cordoba Spain in our summer home. My father owns a very big furniture and home decor company. I had lived in Spain for most of my life and moved to America when I was 12. I had lived there for 3 years until Father had found a good school in Japan that I had to go to. I was his Rosalina and his Rosalina deserves the best. So he had told me anyways. I spoke two languages. Spanish being my first, English being my second. You can imagine that I wasn't so ecstatic to be thrown into Japan and have no idea what anyone was saying. I had taken a few classes back in America, but it wasn't enough.
Everything around me seemed foreign and scary. The streets, the shops, but most of all the people. I look down at the worn out piece of paper in my hand. It had the address of my host family on it. The neighborhood I'm in is obviously wealthy. All the houses are very large, and the lawns well manicured. I stop in front of a white house. It had beautifully designed pillars with a huge black gate in the front. The black gate had a speaker. I walked up to it and pushed the button.
"Hello. Otakawa residence. Do you have an appointment?" Says a cheery female voice. I process her sentence and surprisingly I understand her pretty well.
"Yes. My name is Rosalina Juarez. I am the foreign exchange student." I say shakily.
" Oh yes! Please come right in Ms. Juarez!" She says and the gate swings open slowly.
I walk up the gravel driveway dragging my feet and allowing my suitcase to slow me down. The Otakawas are very nice people. They had a son that was a year older than me. They owned a major insurance company, and are friends of my parents. They had visited us in America once or twice and their son Masaru was a shy boy that was always by himself. The door opened before I even had the time to knock. The butler bowed slightly to me.
"Ms. Juarez. May I please take your bag?" He asks me.
I nod. "Yes thank you very much." I say knowing there was no point arguing.
"Please follow this way me ma'am." he. Says and begins to walk away.
There was a beautiful staircase leading to the upstairs rooms. The red carpet seemed to shine under our feet. I follow him down a long hallway with paintings and we stop and the butler knocks on the door.
"Come in." Says a muffled voice through the door.
He enters first and I enter behind him taking in my surroundings. There was a huge brown desk and two other red chairs were occupied with Mr. and Mrs. Otakawa and their son Masaru. Masaru had always been a loner. He was always by himself either reading or writing. Even though we lived in a beautiful place with so much to do with friends and family,
he was always alone. Back then he was short and quiet. Just a normal little boy. I used to tease him about being shorter than me. Now he was tall and muscular, with raven black hair and kind brown eyes. I couldn't help but stare at him from the corner of my eye. He smiles at me and stands up.
"Rosalina, it's been a very long time. It's so good to see you again." She says kindly and she pats my shoulder.
"It's nice to see you too. . Masaru." I say nodding at each of them respectfully.
He waves his hand. "Alright, enough with all of these formalities. How have you been Rose? How are your parents?" He asks me.
I smile. "I'm wonderful and I bet my parents would tell you the same. I wanted to ask you a question about the school I'm going to attend. Do I need to help fill out the paperwork?" I ask genuinely worried. Small things like paperwork are the bane of my existence, worrying me to death.
He shakes his head. "No, no. All of you school affairs are taken care of. If that's everything then Akio will show you to your room."
The butler bows slightly to me.
"Right this way madam" He says and waits for me to walk out the door.
I walk down the hallway alongside Akio until he stops at a large door at the end of the hallway. He wants to unpack my things but I refuse. I thank him for his service and I let out a long sigh when he finally leaves me. Before I had been distracted by him, but now I could take in the room and all its glory. All of the furniture was an elegant deep brown color. All of the furnishings were a luscious red. Best of all I had a large window seat. I walk over to it and sit. I could tell it was going to be my favorite place. Even though everything was ideal, the weather outside was beginning to match my gray and dreary mood.
I walk over to my closet and begin to unpack my things. I notice a yellow dress, probably my school uniform. I'm not too fond of yellow. Why not blue instead? I think to myself. Deciding to go to sleep early rather than later I get into my pajamas. The huge four poster bed looked rather inviting with its silky pillows and plush blankets. I slip into the blankets and become lost in my own dreams.
The next morning I wake up at five. I had always liked to get up earlier, plus I hadn't explored the town yet. Quietly I get on my jogging shoes and my sweat pants. I pick up my sweater from off the dresser and open my bedroom door. I cautiously walk down the hallway trying not to wake anyone. I open the massive front door and begin to jog down the gravel pass. As I run I can't help but noticing the quality of the homes decrease every few blocks. After about 30 minutes I'm in a shabbier part of town with run down apartments and small stores. Personally I enjoyed these sorts of towns. No one I know would ever come to a place like this. I could be myself without judgment.
I must have lost track of the time because it was already 6 and I had to leave for school at seven. There was one small problem. I was completely lost. I look around frantically attempting to recognize something, anything that would tell me where I was. I looked at my watch. It was 6:10 and my time was slowly running out. No one was on the streets except for a petite girl with short brown hair and big brown eyes. I gather up my courage and begin to walk over to her. She appeared to be in a hurry herself. I felt bad disturbing her but I was somewhat scared and did not need to be late my first day of school here,
"Excuse me miss!?" I say loudly in my best Japanese. She turns around and looks at me.
"Yes? Do you need something?" She asks me her brown eyes wide.
"I was wondering if you know where this address is." I ask her and dig in my pocket for the small piece of paper I had kept in my sweater. I hand it to her and watch her face as she looks it over.
"Yeah. It's past Nihon Street and just down the road." She tells me. I
I look at her blankly. "I'm sorry but I can't read Japanese all that well and I was wondering if you could maybe walk me there?" I ask sheepishly.
She looks at her watch then sighs. " Sure. I'll walk you a little bit of the way. But then I really have to go." She says.
I want to hug her and spin her in circles but I suppress the urge.

"Well, What's your name?" I ask her.
She looks at me and smiles.

"Haruhi." She says.