Coming Home- Chiyo-chan

--

Living in the upstairs portion of her friend's place had never really seemed right to Chiyo. Not that she was afraid of heights- she just felt more comfortable on the ground. She had lived with the same friend for the entire 10 years that she'd been in America. Mr. Tadakichi, unfortunately, had passed away a few years earlier, much to Chiyo's sadness.

She never really went by her old nickname of Chiyo-chan anymore. There was only one person that ever called her by her old name, and that was her best friend and life partner, Ayumu "Osaka" Kasuga. What a surprise it was for Chiyo when Osaka showed up out of the blue, after not seeing her for over three years. But that's for another story.

When she had gotten to America, Chiyo immediately set out to find the perfect college for her. She found that place in a small town called Paradise, Colorado; the college was called, appropriately, Paradise University. After applying there, she only had to wait a few days before she received her acceptance letter in the mail.

College life in America was nothing like high school life back in Tokyo. Not only was she possibly the youngest person on the campus, at only 14 years old, but the people who went there weren't very nice to her at all. She learned to deal with it after awhile, though, and her classmates' sharp words ceased to bother her.

While attending school full-time, Chiyo had managed to procure a job, working at a McDonalds near the campus; her previous experience working at the fast-food joint back in Tokyo prepared her nicely for working there, and she was very well-liked by most everyone that worked there.

In spite of all the friends she made in America, though, she still missed her friends from back home terribly- even loud-mouthed Tomo. She always smiled when she thought of the fun times they'd all had, and seeing as she thought about them practically all the time… People often asked her why she smiled all the time. "Just remembering," she'd say to them.

Schoolwork wasn't much of a challenge for her; after all, she was Chiyo. Most of her classes came easy to her, save her physics class, and she got that after the first month or two.

Chiyo was amazed at how fast the four years of college in America went, at least for her. It seemed only a few months she was there, and then she was graduating, an education degree in hand.

The day she graduated, she wrote a letter to all of her friends back home. "Hey Gals," the letter said, "I'm graduating college today! Wish me luck as I try to find a job out here! Love y'all always, Chiyo."

Life turned out to be not so easy for her, though; even with her degree, she still couldn't find any schools who would hire her to teach there. "You're only 18," they'd say. "No matter if you graduated college already or not, life as a teacher is way too stressful for an 18-year old to handle."

"But I can handle it!" Chiyo would say, "I promise!" But her words more often than not fell on deaf ears.

She ended up having to support herself working in the preschool program of a local church she had begun to attend. Her life was going quite slowly, and Chiyo hated it. Life passed her by, slow as can be, for three years- until she showed up.

It had been quite the day at the school; a small fire had broken out in the kitchen, which happened to be where the children were at the time, waiting for their snacks. Chiyo had had to rush the kids out while another teacher put the fire out. Between that, and the overall rowdiness of her students, the job was very stressful on her. She made it home, though, extremely tired. When she arrived at her house, there was a sign on the door.

Chiyo, the note read, we're going on a short vacation for a few days. You have the run of the house while we're gone. Try not to throw too big of a party. Love from, Mike and Crystal

"Home alone," she said to herself as she got in the house. "Like this place wasn't creepy enough already…" She was hungry, but as soon as she sat down, she fell right to sleep.

She woke up around 7:00, to hear a knocking coming from the door.

"Who is it?" she asked, but no answer came. She went over to the door and looked out the peephole; she could vaguely register a person who seemed to be about as tall as she was, but other than that, couldn't tell much about her. She turned on the light, opened the door- and felt her jaw drop wide open.

"Surprised?" Osaka asked, a wide grin crossing her face.

All Chiyo could do was stare. Osaka stepped in and wrapped her arms around her long-lost friend; Chiyo finally snapped out of it and hugged her back.

"Osaka!" Chiyo said. "What- what in the world are you doing here?"

Osaka laughed. "Just coming to America to see my best friend. I'm thinking about staying here, doing some writing."

"Sounds fun," said Chiyo. "You up for some dinner?"

"Am I ever!" exclaimed Osaka, and the two both laughed.

Since that night, three years had passed. Osaka and Chiyo had become partners and had begun living together, in the flat above Chiyo's friends' house- the same one Chiyo had lived in the whole time she was in America. Chiyo had finally gotten a job as a teacher; she taught at an elementary school about ten miles from where she lived. As for Osaka… well, that's for another time.

That day was just another hectic day for Chiyo; rambunctious kids and her car not starting the first time (or the second time, or the third time, or the…) were her main problems each day, and today was no exception. She had to work late that day, coordinating a school bake sale. She got home around 6:00, and was surprised to find Osaka not even there.

"Weird…" she said to herself as she entered, "she's usually here when I get home." She found the mail sitting on the table and began to idly sift through it, wondering what bills she would get today. Surprisingly, no bills were in the stack; what was there, though, was an old-looking envelope with her name on it. She looked at the return address; it was so sloppily written, however, that Chiyo couldn't figure out who it was that sent it. She opened it up.

"Dear Chiyo-chan," she read, "you are invited to…" Her voice trailed off as she read. When she was finished a wide grin was on her face.

"It has been 10 years, hasn't it?" she asked herself. "I'll have to take time off work, but… it'll be great to see all our friends again!" She headed up to her room, smiling. "Just wait 'til Osaka hears about this!!!"