Hello everyone! Thanks for reading Chapter 10! Although there wasn't much feedback, I'm happy the story was read. Thanks a bunch 3
School is going to start again pretty soon, and I'm studying for a bunch of test so updates will be slower. At the same time, it'll depend on if I could find inspiration. To tell the truth, I haven't written much because I was a bit stuck on writers block. But I found some new favorite music and ta-da, Chapter 11. (well not the complete story). Anyway enjoy! And (to say sadly) enjoy the rest of your summer! I know I will.

POSTED: 9/11/16

"We're going to move to Italy for a few years!"

Emiko shook my shoulders, "okkasan, you broke Hotaru into shock."

Did I just hear that right? Danielle wanted us to MOVE to ITALY?!

Oh no, no, no. This just can't be happening!

I glanced at Danielle who just smiled at me. "Aren't you excited?" She made a small pause, taping her chin with a thoughtful look. "Don't worry about your friends. We're going to move in time for the new school year. Education is really important you know."

I mentally counted the months from June to April; nine months. That would be a long time to say goodbye to everyone, but it's horrible isn't it? I will always have this dreading feeling in the pit of my stomach until the fated day came. I feel like I'll never see Japan again. Would our friendship be lost? Long distance did not work in my mind. We were just kids, so there was no way I could communicate to everyone with a phone or even taking their emails.

Either I keep this information bottled up, or just tell them heads on.

No good... I don't want to do either.

Mia walked towards my direction, and asked, "Hotaru-chan are you okay?"

I nodded, "un! I'm fine, I just wonder if Italy looks like Japan."

Just like I expected, the discussion changed direction. Danielle started to explain what Italy was like, in appearance wise. I just sat there, partially listening to her words. Her explanations went through one ear and out the other.

I trudged into my room as soon as dinner was over with the opening of our presents. I gave my family their plushie gifts while my parents filmed the opening of the presents. I ripped through the wrapping paper messily; without the slightest care.

Once I was at the door, I lifted my heavy arms to slam down the door knob, and kicked the door open. The items in my arms were weighing me down. I was so happy when I could finally throw everything down on the ground. I looked at the scattered items - a pair of pink flats that matched with a formal dress, a giant teddy bear, the cupcake plushie I bought. I knew what I was missing, the airplane ticket. Of course I couldn't be holding onto something as important as those tickets. I would probably lose them anyway.

I dived into my bed. What am I going to do?

The next morning, I evaded anything related to Italty. I managed to stop Danielle's questions from continuing. They must have realized that they would never get an accurate answer out of my mouth.

After all, I'm only a six year old

I smiled triumphantly to myself. I should be spending these last few months with happiness.

My life in Japan. There was so much I wanted to do and test out. Too much anime was bad for me, it really was. I always imagined what it was like to go to a cliche middle school. Falling in love with some really guy or something along popular shoujo mangas. I'm positive, 100%, nothing like that will ever happen. Life here is just the same like before; it's reality. (I take that back, it's not exactly realistic.)

"Hotaru-chan, you eat so messily today." Danielle said, taking out her handkerchief. She wiped by cheeks that was smudged by cinnamon coming from the French toast.

I smiled, "hehe, thanks okkasan!"

"Here's your backpack." Mia said, picking up the bright red bag. She helped me place it on my back. "All set to go?"

"Yep!"

We took the car to get there faster. I was enthusiastic about school; I couldn't wait to get there. Emiko sat in the back with me. She was staring out the window, not paying to her surroundings at all.

"I'm dropping you off now Hotaru-chan, remember to behave alright?"

I gave Mia a childish salute, and in reply, she laughed. "Alright off you go. Don't want to be late do we?"

"Bye bye Mia-san."

As I closed the door and hopped off the car, Emiko was still there talking with Mia. I shrugged my shoulders; I rather not invade their conversation so I just went inside the building.

I got through the familiar corridors. Almost a whole year has passed since I first stepped into this place. The same white walls, the wide, tall windows that made the place so bright. The cute decorations hanging on the ceilings, walls and bulletins. From small dangling origami to artistic drawings made by the students themselves.

Thinking about the future, I could have stayed in this school for a long time. From kindergarten until the end of my elementary school year, sixth grade.

But life isn't perfect.

"Good morning, Ame-sensei!" I say as I walked right into the classroom. I dropped off my backpack in the cupboard area and went to my seat.

"Good morning, Hotaru-chan." Ame-sensei said as she took some attention away from the papers. "Did you eat a yummy breakfast?"

It was another easy class; it passed by like the wind.

Before I knew it, lunch came.

The cafeteria was magical. Decorated in red, and black streamers, the long rectangular tables were swapped with squared tables, a floral table cloth was placed on top, and there were dangling origamis, all in different shapes: animals, shirts, flowers, shapes...

"Kyoko-chan!" I called out to my ginger haired friend above all the noise. I could see the smile erupting from her face. She raised her arm and waved.

I got my food and took a seat next to her. I slumped my body next to her and tried to not think about Italy.

"Did you see the new anime?" Kyoko asked me as she stuffed her mouth with rice. "Kuro-tan is having a crossover with Shoujo Flowers!"

Shoujo Flowers was one of those magical girls series. The ones where young girls were granted magic or super powers to defeat the villians. They would transform and be all colored themed, even having 'unique' super power moves. No matter how obvious the plots usually were, Shoujo Flowers was different.

The drawings, the colors! The story centered around this main character, a guy, who died and suddenly entered this fantasy world reborn as a girl. Since his memory is still intact, he act very much like a guy. No one however sees this as strange. As the episodes ascend, the plot starts to climax. Mysteries are answered, and reasons try clarify the confusion the director put so much in the beginning.

"I haven't! But Shoujo Flowers is so awesome!" I thought about the main character, "I want to be just like Hana-chan! She's so cool!"

The main character was kind of a brute. She always talked in a gruff tone, or tried to. Her voice was amazingly smooth like a lady. Anyways, Hana was always in tip top shape for physical activities- and a thing for muscles, I guess she still want to embrace her male side- and was so cool at fighting.

"Hehe she is! Hm...She reminds me sometimes of Okkasan though. They're both scary when getting bad guys. Their face darkens and everything, there's this glint in their eyes." She pretends to shiver.

"Maybe we can learn some of those moves and catch evil!" I suggested this idea during the spur of the moment. I'm not sure how it'll actually be accepted.

"Great idea Hotaru-chan!"

Huh?

"I'm going to tell Okkssan about it tonight! I'm sure she knows some bad people we can fight off!" She clapped her hands happily, a wide smile spreading on her face- so innocent.

Isn't that going to more dangerous? I'm sure a police catches bad people, but they're usually worse than some kid stealing candy from a convenience store; they could be drug dealers or even murders!

"Won't they be harder to catch? Since they'll be bad adult guys." I watched her expression change to a thoughtful one.

"Well...I guess so."

I guess she wasn't really thinking about the dangers that could come with it. Well, I hope her mom would go against the idea.

"Hey Ryohei!"

I smiled at my older brother figure. He was different from Emiko who was also my older sibling. He made me feel protected; nothing could go wrong with him around. I don't understand why I feel this way. It's probably because I have seen the bonds between the Sasagawa siblings.

Although this would change in the future I'm glad I enjoy my childhood days.

"Hotaru!" Ryohei shouted as he rushed to my side and ruffled my hair. He grinned, "what're you doing out here alone?"

I was currently sitting in a sand pit at the park. I tried to build some sort of building with the sand, but it looked more like a mound with a bunch of holes.

"I'm not alone." I say, "Mia-san is here. She's just sitting at the bench over there." I pointed to where Mia was sitting. A nice book was tucked in her hand, and as if she felt my gaze, her eyes met mine.

"She's at keeping an eye." Ryohei spoke in awe, a small gasp had escaped from his lips.

I continued digging a rectangle at the bottom of the mound. I watched Ryohei croch down, looking at my weird building. "Wanna help?" I offered him a small shovel and pushed a tray of colored rocks. "That's for decorating later."

Silence embraced us as we continued on our small project. By the time we finished, it looked more like a half eaten cake. But we were proud of our work.

"Hehe it looks awesome." Ryohei said. "We did great!"

I smiled, "we sure did!" I held up my hands and we cheered together.

"Hotaru-chan! We should get going!"

I could hear Mia calling me, but I couldn't leave just yet.

"Ryohei, I'll drop you off at your house. We're going to pass by anyway."

I felt happy to see him smile again. I don't know what's going on, why he felt sad in the first place. I didn't even ask him why his parents aren't here to pick him up. Well, I shouldn't dive into his business.

The night sky was bright, twinkling with stars and the calm moonlight. The cool breeze would tickle my skin, and the crickets would sing their song.

When we made it to the Sasagawa household, but the lights were off. It was strange, shouldn't they be at home by now? Leaving kids alone isn't very safe.

I must have dozed off in my own thoughts, because I could hear someone sniffling now. There, Ryohei looked like he was bawling quietly while talking to MIa. She gave him a tight hug, and offered him to stay at our house while she called his parents.

I'm not sure what's wrong, it's hard for me to guess. What personal problems could Ryohei have?

I looked back to the boy sitting in the living room absentmindedly. Should I ask?

"What? You failed your fight and now can't be in the regional competition?"

Who knew that boxing had a competition like sports in Namimori.

"Otousan was looking so forward to it..."

His voice was strained; he was in pain for speaking the truth.

It must have been so frustrating. Working hard for something with all your might, but only to get rejected in the end. Wondering, where did all your hard work do? Nothing worked well for you. It's such a loss.

I could feel the atmosphere getting uncomfortable and tense. Not only that, it was starting to feel sad. With this emotion going around, it was bound for Ryohei to start crying his problems out through salty tears. But how could I fix it?

I wanted to cheer him up; however, I couldn't. I didn't know what to do. It was complicated to comfort someone. One wrong move, and I could hit the wrong nerve.

I didn't notice, but the stream started to flow.

We sat in silence, (with some sniffling) embracing the quietness that surrounded us. When Ryohei had to leave, only a raspy goodbye could leave my throat. He turned to me, and smiled weakly. How strong. What a tough thing to do.

I couldn't comfort him, or make him feel better at the least. Yet he still, although forced, smiled with a sense of comfort.

Am I a bad friend?

I hate to discourage myself, but it was one of those days that I wanted time to myself. I needed to clear my thoughts, and find my goals in life.

I not only went into my favorite manga's universe, but I received a second chance in life.

This time, without fail, I'll definitely reach my goal and change myself.

I'll be a good friend. Someone people could look up to, and spew out their worries.

I sighed as I followed Ryohei out the door. As I watch his car turn smaller and smaller, like a star in the night, I couldn't help having a heavy feeling on my chest. I looked up at the stars and clasped my hands to make a silent wish.

"Please allow him to get over this smoothly."

Thank you for reading!
I planned to make this chapter longer, and to fit more character appearances in. But for some reason, I ended up writing the ending of the chapter sooner than I expected. As a result, I hope you guys look forward to chapter 12 soon. I will most likely update in 2 weeks. For now, I have to finish this project for my language and science class. Thank you again everyone, I hope it was enjoyable to read.
Any problems or suggestions are accepted. I accept flames, but it should be logical like if there's a mistake or if the plot turns out confusing. I tend to write what I think and not follow what I planned to write.

See you guys soon

-Yuka Hara