Julia was settling in for a long flight, it was going to be about 10 hours until she arrived in Narita airport and then she would be greeted by her host family. She was extremely nervous about the flight, not that she hadn't flown before, but she had never been to Japan, especially Narita, nor had she ever been on a flight for as long as she was going to be on this one. Deciding to relax a bit more, she waded through her carry on, in an attempt to find the cassette player, as she was eager to listen to what else Shizuki had taped for her.
Instead of finding the tape player on top, she found a round pill bottle, which she pulled out to examine closer. It had Japanese on it with a little post it note attached. "These are Wada Calcium CD3 pills. My grandmother swears by them whenever she flies. If you're nervous, take one or two, but no more! Have a safe flight, -Shizuki"
She stared at the bottle, wondering whether she should trust the pills or not. Sure, she was nervous but nothing that she couldn't handle. Besides, Shizuki had a way of playing pranks on her and Mizuki when they were kids, what was to stop him now? Just because he gained more respect and her trust?
Flipping through the channels, she finally found a movie to settle into and watch. The movie wasn't that interesting and Julia fell asleep about twenty minutes into the movie. When she woke up, that was when she first remembered having a dream about Shizuki.
In the dream, Shizuki looked a few years older. He was sitting on a swing that was hung from the porch, whistling happily to himself as Julia opened the gate of the white picket fence. As soon as she walked through the gate, the door of the house opened and a little girl, about three years old, ran out, leaping into Julia's arms and giving her kisses all over. The little girl had bouncing blonde curls like Julia and was wearing a pretty little yellow sundress with pink flowers.
Shizuki yelled from the porch, "Now, now, Kimiko! Don't ruin your dress, we're about go out to celebrate your birthday. Let your mother get inside and you and I will go find your dress shoes, okay?"
Mother? Julia thought. Her and Shizuki? A little girl? At that moment, Julia shot straight up in her seat and grabbed those pills. Maybe one couldn't hurt her? At least it'd ease her mind a little. Japan would be a good thing, she'd be able to figure out what was going on between her and Shizuki and hopefully clear everything up when she returned home in a month. Until, then she still had several hours left in the flight and there was at least one movie she wanted to stay awake during, hopefully the dream was just that, a dream.