Hey everybody! I'm back with another chapter! Thanks for reading and enjoy the story!
I think my anxiety reached my peak when I was standing outside the home of my host family and Ms. Andrews was ringing the bell. I felt my hands start to shake so I gripped on even tighter to the handle of my suitcase.
The door opened and a happy looking young couple answered the door with a little girl in their arms.
"Welcome," the woman said, "You must be Valeria." she extended a hand for a shake and I took it gladly, "We are so happy you have come to stay with us. I am Mrs. Suzuki. Come in, please. "
They stepped back and let me into the house along with Ms. Andrews. The father handed off the little girl to her mother and grabbed my suitcase and said in deep and heavily accented English, "I take this for you."
"Thank you very much." I said to him in Japanese and bowed.
I changed into house slippers that Mrs. Suzuki provided for me and followed her into the kitchen with Ms. Andrews. She sat us at their dining table and returned with a pot of tea and some cups.
She poured us each a cup and took a seat. Her daughter had run off to watch tv and her husband was just returning from wherever he had taken my luggage. The four of us sat around the table in quiet for a moment before Ms. Andrews spoke up.
"I'm sure you're all very excited to meet each other, so let's all get to know each other a bit, shall we?"
"Yes," Mrs. Suzuki said as she took a sip of her tea, "Valeria, you'll be living here with me and my husband and our 6 year old daughter, Yume. You'll have your own room upstairs and a desk for studying. If you want anything to decorate your walls or want a calendar or anything like that just let us know."
"Thank you very much for your hospitality, ma'am." I spoke to them in Japanese from the point. They asked me to speak English with Yume though. It wasn't an issue at all. I'm here to practice and use Japanese as much as possible, but I can do that at every other time of day when I'm not speaking to Yume.
The conversation dragged on until Ms. Andrews needed to leave and she gave me a hug and wished me luck before she left. When I returned into the house, Ms. Suzuki looked me up and down. I was worried for a second that without Ms. Andrews here she would flip like a switch and not like me anymore or something. I waited for the insult or scolding but it never came. Instead she said, "Ms. Andrews mentioned you went to visit the school. Did you already join a club?"
"Oh," I looked up at her, "I unofficially joined the boys volleyball club before I came here. I'm going to help out as their manager for the term. How did you know?"
"Ms. Andrews said that she took you to visit the school. I was curious about where the sweatshirt came from."
I looked down and realized I was still wearing Akaashi's sweatshirt, so I said, "Sorry, I need a second," I pulled my phone out of my pocket and sent Akaashi a message.
'What the heck, Akaashi?! You forgot to take your sweatshirt back you must have been freezing on the way home!'
He replied almost immediately saying, 'I told you I had a jacket. You looked cold. If it bothers you so much just give it back to me at practice tomorrow.'
'I think I'll keep it in that case until I get one for myself.'
'Keep it as long as you want. Practice is at the same time tomorrow, if you could come an hour or so early to help set up since you're the manager now that would be great. Onaga, Anahori, and I will all be there again and we can help you learn some more about the sport before practice starts.'
'Sounds fun, see you then!'
'Great, just a warning, Bokuto might come again.'
'That's fine, he was super nice to me.'
'Of course he was... See you tomorrow.'
I didn't ask what he meant by that. 'See you then!'
"Sorry Mrs. Suzuki, I was just saying sorry to the person who's sweatshirt this is. I forgot to give it back to him after the volleyball practice today."
"No worries, dear, are you going to be at their practices from now on?" she asked walking into the kitchen and pulling out some cookies. She held them out to offer me some and I gladly took one.
"Thank you." I said, "and yes, I'll be at all their practices. I just have to help set up before hand and clean up afterward. During practice I help keep score during scrimmages and toss balls for the setters to practice setting. It's actually really fun because all the guys are really nice."
"I'm glad to hear that you are already having a good time here. I've got a favor to ask though."
"Of course, how can I help?" I was really grateful for their hospitality so I was completely on board with doing whatever they needed help with, even cleaning the bathroom.
"Mr. Suzuki and I never get to go out much because we have Yume, do you think you could babysit once in a while for us?"
"Of course I can!" I said confidently, "I love kids! I never had siblings but all my younger cousins love me!"
"That's wonderful, thank you so much, dear." she smiled and bit back a laugh when I yawned, "I know I'm just your host mom and you don't really have to listen to me, but I think you should go to bed soon. You look exhausted. Did you sleep on the flight over?"
"No, I've been awake for almost 40 hours now."
"That's not healthy!" she looked worried for me, "Go to bed alright! You room is the first door on the left at the top of the stairs. The bathroom is directly across from your room."
"Thank you, Mrs. Suzuki."
"Good night dear!" she waved as I walked up the stairs.
In my room, I pulled out my pajamas, but the most I managed to do was put my pajama bottoms on and hit the lights off before face planting in bed. I reached for my back pack and pulled out my charger and plugged my phone in. Just as I was about to drift off I saw that I had a message from Kenma.
"How are you doing? Do you like Japan?" It read.
"Everyone is really nice. Thank you for introducing me to your friends. It is making this a lot easier and more fun than I imagined. I'm about to fall asleep. I didn't sleep on the plane ride so I'm exhausted. If I don't respond that's why."
"Good night, Ria! I want to see you soon."
"I want to see you too." I sent and put my phone down I let myself fall into a deep sleep.