It is the day before Nowaki's first big test of his time spent in America. That means it's about one week and a couple days into the future. Thank you for reading this and don't forget to comment/critique.

Oh no, oh no! I'm not ready for this, I don't know how I'll be able to do it…

" Nowaki?…"

How? How can I be ready? No one in their right mind would take a test this early.

" Nowaki!…"

I was frantically pacing the room. Trying to remember what Kara had taught me so far, and nothing coming up.

" Alright, that's it. Wake up, back to reality, in with the good air out with the bad. You can do this." Kara said. " Just settle down."

Settle down? I can't settle down, I was being to frantic too settle down.

" Don't worry your going to do fine, Nowaki. After all you have me as your tutor you know." she said. I didn't really pay attention to the sarcasm in her voice.

" How do you know I'm going to do fine? I can't bring anything back, I've forgotten all that I have learned!" I said.

" Really? Well then, we're going to have to fix that, aren't we?" she said. " Get your coat, we're going to someplace where you can settle down and just relax. Relaxing helps with the body and mind you know."

" Where do you plan on going?" I said.

" Not me, but we. And we are going to the library. Very relaxing there." Kara said, with a smirk.

The library? Right now that would just make me even more stressed. Being surrounded by books, I should remember things I read from books. But right now nothing was coming back.

So Kara half picked me up and half dragged me out the door. With me kicking and screaming on the way out.

Once we were outside she showed me the way to the library. As we were walking, though, something caught Kara's eye.

" Hey, isn't that cute?" she said, pointing to the glass of a small store. I thought we were going to the library not window shopping. " Oh, it's a little panda bear. It looks like there's a whole lot of them too. Wanna go inside and take a closer look?"

" But, what about the library?" I reminded.

" We have plenty of time to go to the library. I just want to look at the panda bears." she said. What a weirdo.

Once inside I noticed how the whole store seemed to be entitled to animals of all different verities. I had to admit it was a pretty cool store. They even had little wooden bear carvings that were very detailed and artistic.

" Hey Nowaki, look at this." Kara said from behind me. I turned around to see a stuffed koala in my face. " Don't you love it? I love animals, although my favorite animals are the albinos of the kingdom. Like Albino tigers and rabbits. You know, the ones that are kind of rare to find. But when you do they are extraordinary to see." she said. With poetry in her words. " Oh, look a souvenir stand. Why don't you get something for that sweetheart you daydream about all the time." Kara said in a teasing voice.

Not a bad idea, but what to get him. Looking around nothing really caught my eye. I didn't want to get him a stuffed animal or a painting. That wasn't, how to say, good enough. I wanted it to be sentimental, but not sappy with goo-goo eyes. Something that would remind us of our time spent apart, but not letting it get in the way. I knew I was demanding, but, hey, right then I wanted to be.

" Haha, how bout this?" Kara said. She was pointing at a panda bear with a little American hat and a flag in its paw. " That way you can tell a story about being in America every time you guys look at it."

I walked over to where she was standing. I picked up the little bear and flipped it upside-down. It had a little "Made in Japan" signature on it.

" Um, yeah, but when I get back, it would seem as if I saw it in one of the windows of Tokyo." I said and pointed the writing towards Kara.

" Well then you can have a good laugh when you give it to them." she said with a smile. I bought it, not really knowing why, but I bought it.

We left the store and started walking down the street. Kara seemed to be in her own little world. Until she paid attention to her cell phone.

She said. " I'm getting kind of hungry. Lets go this little café that I know of. They have amazing food there."

" Alright, if you want to." I said. Truthfully I was getting kind of hungry too.

Once there, we decided to get a table outside. It had gotten warmer during our time in that little shop and it seemed perfect to eat outside. It wasn't that bad of a little café either.

Kara ordered a shake with the soup of the day. I got an iced coffee with a sandwich. We got our orders and Kara started up the conversation.

" You know, not that it's any of my business but, who is this mystery lover of yours Nowaki?" she said.

I stopped eating mid-bite into my sandwich. I never thought she would be so interested as to know who Hiro-san was. I might be making a big deal out of it but, now that I think about it, what if she doesn't accept that I love someone who is a man? Would she stop tutoring me? That would be horrible, I don't know what I would do without her help. She must have noticed my hesitance. As I searched my way out of this problem I decided to risk it.

" Well my relationship is a little different than others." I began.

" Are you trying to say it's different because your in love with a man?" Kara interrupted. That made me totally stunned. I can't believe she knew all along. " I don't see why you were so hesitant to tell me, it's not like I care if they were a boy or a girl. I'm not one of those kind of people who cares what gender you are, I just care about happiness with another person. What's on the inside really counts, you know? I just wanted to know what they were like, what made you love them so much." she explained. " Besides that, Nowaki, if you aren't true to other people how can you be really true with yourself."

She totally shocked me. All I could do was stare at the ground, and absorb what she just told me. She was right. Why should I care what everyone else thinks? As long as Hiro-san and me are happy, then that was all that mattered.

" Sorry, I got a little carried away. But I'm really not judgmental at all. Anything that's okay with you is okay with me." Kara said.

Kara really was a good person. I wonder why I don't see her with so many friends at the university. Maybe she just liked to be alone. But that doesn't make since, she said she gets bored doing nothing. I see her talking with some people in our sociology class, but that seems to be it. I should figure that out, sometime, I mean after that test tomorrow of…

" Oh no, Kara. What about the library?" I said, sounding a little frantic.

Kara gave a smirk and said. " I never really planned on going to the library, you know. I just needed you to get relaxed. Your mind was way too over stressed. You need to clam down a lot more. Besides that, you still need to answer me on my question. Who is this mystery man?" she said leaning in, very interested.

We weren't going to the library? She tricked me? Or did she helped me? I was feeling more relaxed and ready for tomorrow.

Kara is very smart, I admitted to myself. And she was becoming something of a friend to me, I don't see any harm as to tell her about Hiro-san. I think I will be able to trust her.

" Well," I said. " His name is Hiroki, but I call him Hiro-san. I guess you can say that it was 'love at first sight'. We met at a park." Well I found him is more how it was, but Kara wont care how it actually happed, I don't think. " I guess you can say it was fate that brought us together. He loves Japanese literature, he even teaches it at a university." And so I wove and spun the tale of me and Hiro-san to Kara. Of course I kept the personal stuff to myself, that was mine and his to keep. After I was done telling Kara everything she wanted to hear, she said…

" That is way to romantic for my heart to bare!" Then she took out her phone and said, " Wow, where does time go? I guess we should be heading back to our houses."

So we said goodbye and headed off to our own homes. I felt like I was ready to take on anything the world could hit me with. I went home and went to bed.

The next morning I was ready for my test. Passing the little desk I realized something, I didn't write Hiro-san a letter. That was the first time since I was here that I didn't take time to write to him.

Which somehow gave me the confidence I needed telling me that I could last this time away from him. I also realized that it made it a lot easier on me to not stress myself by constantly thinking about him.

I thought that, if anything else got in the way of me thinking about him, I wouldn't love him as much as I do. It looked like a childish idea, now that I look at it. Of course nothing in this world could make me stop loving him. Not even me, I guess.

I laughed at myself and went out the door to take my first step to getting back to the place where I belong.