One Second Counts: Year Three – Angels in America
A New Home

"We are about to begin our descent into Los Angeles. We ask that you please turn off all electronic devices and stow all carry-on items. Please return your tray tables and seat backs to their upright and locked positions. Thank you for flying with us, and we hope you enjoy your stay in Los Angeles."

Kajuu woke to the sound of the intercom. She looked around with half closed eyes, and put her seat back up. She looked at Sakuraryu, who sat on the tray table in her new outfit, which was Tokyo street fashion inspired. She wore a black three-quarter sleeve shirt with silver writing on it. The sleeves were cut out at her biceps, leaving a little bit of flesh exposed. On the shirt was also a purple heart and sakura flower. The text and design were on the shirt at a right angle; the vertical part being on the right side and the horizontal part being at the top. She wore a short, black, pleated skirt that reached mid-thigh. It also had silver writing in the right corner. She wore black, knee high, lace up boots with Piffle Princess shoelaces. She had black, skintight socks that went a little bit above the boots. She wore her purple Angel chord around her neck.

Her long white hair was partially held up in two pigtails on each side of her head with black holders. On her right wrist, she wore a thick purple bracelet, and on her left, three thinner black ones. She wore two belts; both were black, but the top one was studded and the right side of it rested on her hip, and the bottom one had bottle caps attached to it. It went around her waist like a regular belt. Kajuu was proud of this outfit, as she was of every one she made for Sakuraryu.

Soon, Kajuu felt the turbulence of descending through the clouds. She quickly grabbed her Angel and put her tray table up. As she felt the next series of bumps, her right hand flew to the armrest. She clutched it tight and closed her eyes.

'It's normal turbulence,' she tried to convince herself to calm down. She found her mind wandering to more calming thoughts: thoughts of her friends, family, and of course, her obsession with Angelic Layer. She had heard Angelic Layer was in the United States now, but only recently. This would be the second year since the Angel Egg was first introduced in the United States. Kajuu intended to enter the tournament, and looked forward to fighting all-new Deuses. Before she new it, she felt the jolt of the plane landing. She finally relaxed when the plane slowed and moved to its gate.

'My family should know what gate I'm arriving at…' she thought, a little nervous about meeting her host family. She had applied to be an exchange student about a year before, and was glad for the opportunity. 'I wish I could have met the girl my family is hosting…' Kajuu gazed out the window watching the bags coming off the plane, waiting for her turn to get off.

#-#-#

"You lost the paper?" An out of breath voice called in the Los Angeles airport.

"You said you had it!" Another responded.

Eva's father and stepmother were frantically running around the airport trying to find the gate they were supposed to pick up their exchange student.

"Okay, hold on," Eva's father stopped short, trying to reason out the situation. "Let's just check the 'Arrivals' screen for flights from Tokyo. Then we'll go to those gates and look for her."

"You know what she looks like?" Lorie asked, surprised

"Er…well…no." Her father replied sheepishly.

"Let's hope she knows who we are, then." Lorie was now studying the 'Arrivals' board. "Here! Gates G5, 9, and 13. Let's go!"

"Wait, let's write her name on a napkin or something and hold it up when we get there, that way she'll know it's us."

#-#-#

Kajuu stepped off the plane, glad to finally be on the ground. So many hours on a plane doesn't do anyone good. She looked around, trying to find her host family. She didn't know what they looked like, but she hoped they'd be holding a sign or something. She checked her watch, and realized the plane had landed a few minutes late. 'They should be here. What if they forgot me?' She shook her head at the silly thought. 'Of course they didn't forget. They had to drop of their child at the same airport! They'll be here, don't worry.' She sat down in a chair and waited. Ten minutes passed, and Kajuu began to worry again.

She decided to take action, so she went up to the attendant's desk and cleared her throat.

"Excuse me," she began, "can you please call Mr. and Mrs. Parker for me? Can you tell them I'm waiting for them here?"

"Sure," The attendant replied. A moment later, the gate intercom clicked on.

"Mr. and Mrs. Parker, your party is waiting at Gate G7. Mr. and Mrs. Parker, your party is waiting at Gate G7."

#-#-#

Two gates down, at G5, Lorie and Eva's father, Matthew, heard a call for Mr. and Mrs. Parker.

"Think that's us?" Lorie asked.

"Let' go!" Matthew shouted, a napkin high above his head. They dashed off for G7.

#-#-#

Kajuu turned away from the desk to watch for her host family. She saw a man and a woman run up, breathing heavily. The man held a napkin above his head. Kajuu squinted to read the napkin. It said, in very messy handwriting, 'Kajuu Kiriyou'. She walked up to them, and introduced herself.

"I'm Kajuu Kiriyou. You must be my host family." She smiled.

"We found you!" Lorie shouted as she threw her arms around Kajuu. Kajuu's eyes widened in surprise.

"Sorry about her. We lost all your flight information, so we were kind of running around in the dark." Matthew smiled, clearly relieved.

"C'mon Kajuu, let's get back to the house. We can talk more in the car," Lorie took a few steps back from Kajuu, and motioned towards the baggage claim sign.

"Okay," Kajuu smiled, already able to tell it was going to be a fun year.

#-#-#

When Kajuu and her host family arrived at their Las Vegas home, Kajuu was surprised to see it empty. She had expected them to have other children besides Eva, but learned that all they had was a dog named Rocky. He was a black and white Welsh Corgie, and was apparently not used to strangers. As soon as Kajuu entered the house, he ran under the kitchen table and watched her.

"Come on Kajuu, I'll show you to your room." Lorie picked up two of Kajuu's bags, and motioned for Kajuu to follow.

"I'll order some pizza," Matthew suggested.

Once upstairs, Lorie assaulted Kajuu with a barrage of questions.

"What's your family like? What do you do for fun? Do you have any siblings? What about pets? Do you have a crush on anyone?"

"Uh…one question at a time?" Kajuu said, a little thrown off by the questions.

"Oh we can talk about it while I help you unpack!"

'She's cute…she's just like a kid.' Kajuu laughed to herself.

"Here we are!" Lorie opened the door to a soft green room with gold accents. There was a wooden dresser and desk, a double window with green curtains trimmed in gold, and a queen sized bed with a green comforter. Above the dresser hung an oval shaped mirror. Kajuu gently placed her backpack on the bed, and pulled out Sakuraryu.

"Wow, what a beautiful doll!" Lorie exclaimed as Kajuu place Sakura on the desk.

"She's an Angel," Kajuu remarked rather plainly.

"You play Angelic Layer?"

"Yes. I heard it just came to the US a year ago."

"My stepdaughter, Eva, loved that game so much, even before it came here. She would watch the Japanese tournaments, and read about all the Angels…Strangely, when it came here, she didn't even buy an Angel. She watched the tournament closely and studied all the American Angels. When she finally did buy and make her own, it was right before she left for Japan," Lorie sighed. "I swear, she is such a mystery to me…

"Would you like help unpacking?" Lorie asked after a moment or two.

"Sure, that'd be great," Kajuu smiled. She began to pull everything Angelic Layer out of her backpack. Lorie watched, amazed that a toy could have so much to it. Then she began to unpack Kajuu's clothes, placing them in the closet and drawers.

"You have such cute clothes!" She exclaimed.

"Thanks." Kajuu replied, opening up another bag. Inside this one, she found her home practice Layer, although she had decided she wanted to go to Piffle Princess more often to meet new people. The two had unpacked a decent amount when the call for dinner came. They both ran downstairs, glad for the break.

"So how's everything coming?" Matthew inquired.

"She likes Angelic Layer, just like Eva!" Lorie boasted.

"You do? How long have you been playing?"

"Five or six years," Kajuu replied, trying to calculate the time. 'Has it really been that long?'

"Then I guess you're going to enter our tournament aren't you?"

Kajuu nodded as she got up to get another slice of pizza. "Is there a Piffle Princess anywhere near?" She asked.

"Yeah, there's one at the nearest mall," Lorie replied. "I'll drive you after dinner."

"That's alright, I'll walk," Kajuu said politely. Matthew and Lorie both glanced at each other.

"It's not really in walking distance…" Matthew said, taking a bite out of his pizza.

"Oh." Kajuu wasn't used to driving everywhere. She was nervous that her family wouldn't like carting her around to and from school, in addition to all her Angelic Layer related places.

"Don't worry about it," Lorie quickly added, sensing Kajuu's unease. "Matthew works from home, and I only work part time. I don't mind driving."

"You sure?" Kajuu asked, but was quickly reassured by Lorie's smile. "All right, just give me a little time after dinner to get everything ready." She finished the slice of pizza she was working on, helped clean up the dishes, and then ran upstairs to her new room.

She went over to the desk where she had place Sakuraryu, and picked up the photo album next to the doll. All her friends threw her a going away party, and gave her the photo album as a present. She opened it up, and flipped through the pages, thinking of how much she missed them already. She looked up at Sakuraryu.

"We'd better get our butts in gear, no? Maybe they'll hear about us at home," she smiled as she grabbed her Angel and ran downstairs.