It was seven in the morning in Tokyo.

That was where Sho was staying these days. His dad moved all over the world, which was brilliant, but also that meant that Emmy didn't get a lot of time to talk to him because of the time difference. Ten o'clock at night was seven in the morning in Tokyo and that was when Sho normally got up…well at least she thought that he did. He answered the phone at seven once a few months ago and sometimes he got back to her around seven…and anyway she had to go to bed soon. If mum found out that she was on her phone this late she was in for it.

But even if mum did take her phone away, take her allowance away, disown her, and send her off to work in the mines it would have been worth it since she got to talk to Sho.

Well it would have been if he picked up. Emmy laid on her bed and held her phone up in front of her face. A picture of her and Sho looked down at her. She remembered this day, they'd been throwing rocks into the river just the two of them. They'd been digging around through the mud for good ones when they found a really smooth piece of glass, kind of like sea glass, but from the river and not the sea. They'd held it up to the light and it had looked so pretty…and then he said that she was prettier…and then she said that he was daft…and then he made the face that he made when he was daft so she pulled him close and they took a picture…

They used to have so much fun together.

He used to come about once a year to see her. That was all the he could manage since his dad was some high ranking yakuza boss or something and he traveled all over the world doing the sorts of things where if he told you he'd have to kill you. Mafia stuff. Giving people cement shoes, making them offers they couldn't refuse, cutting off fingers…brilliant things like that. Sho was his son so he had to go along for the ride…even if it meant that he had to leave her behind. He used to be able to manage visits with his nanny but now everything had gone pear shaped, he said, since his dad had an illegiimate love child and now all the secrets came out and such.

Sho's life was so brilliant.

The only thing that ever happened in her family was mum forgetting her bag at Asda and then freaking out that someone stole it but then everything was fine and it was in the bottom of their trolley where she left it. Dad could be interesting when he was around…but he wasn't around much…and he was moving from Belfast to Limerick because Great Auntie Kiernan kept on forgetting what year it was and trying to go to school even though she was older than gran even. That wasn't interesting at all, actually it was kind of sad really, and….and she sort of wished that her life could have been even a little bit brilliant.

It was only brilliant when Sho was around.

Her finger hovered over the call button. She had her ring on, the one that Sho had given to her, she only wore it on her finger at night. During the day she wore it on a chain under her button down most days. She had to, mum would have gone mental if she knew that Sho'd asked her to marry him, and mum was mental enough as it was. She liked it better on her finger, then she could look down and see it and then she could think about Sho….well she was always thinking about him at least a little. What brilliant things he could have been up to, what daft things, what boring things…if he ever thought about her and what brilliant things she could have been up to…or what daft things….or what boring things. She wondered if he ever looked at his phone, just sat in the dark and looked at it, and imagine her and what she could have been doing or thinking of….

She called Sho.

Because, really, it was daft to sit there in the dark staring at a photo of her boyfriend when she could have just called him and heard his voice. Well hearing wasn't seeing but it was better than imagining…and hoping…hoping that this would be the night that he finally picked up and said something to her…anything…even if it was something as simple as….

"Kon'nichiwa!"

Emmy dropped her phone. It hit her right on the nose, right on the bridge of it. She knew that she looked daft but she hadn't been expecting…well she had been expecting Sho's phone to go to voicemail….or maybe for him to pick up…but that hadn't been Sho. That hadn't even been his older sister, she was older, that had been…that sounded like a baby's voice….

Sho's baby sister!

"Ko-Kon'nichiwa! Hello….no….um….Kon'nichiwa!" said Emmy. Her Japanese was bad. Really bad. Possibly the worst Japanese that anyone had ever spoken. She always scored low on those free language exams online. She would have done better if she had something to learn from besides Google translate and watching anime. Mum said that Japanese lessons were a waste of money and that foreigners were the ones who needed to learn English…mum was mental sometimes. Emmy didn't agree. If she was going to be marrying her Japanese boyfriend then she needed to learn Japanese. Fluently…or at least well enough to talk to his family.

She needed to learn more words besides 'hello' in Japanese.

"Rikaidekinai!" said Sho's baby sister….Mu….Mukai! Yes, that was her name, Mukai. She used to be called something else but then her father renamed her in order to mend his broken heart because his lover abandoned the baby on his doorstep and then ran off into the night. Stricken with grief he left the baby to be raised by one of his lieutenants until she could come of age and join the family business…but then something went wrong and all the secrets got out and there was all sorts of trouble, bad trouble.

All because of one baby.

The one baby who kept on saying the same thing over and over again. Well, mostly. That one really long word came up and then others. Also she was moving, Emmy could hear her walking, and she hoped that it was towards Sho. She didn't know how to speak Japanese and she didn't know how to speak to a baby that young. Two was still a baby, right? Emmy really didn't know. Mum said that she was done having babies and her sister was forbidden from having any until she finished university. Emmy hadn't really given much thought to babies but now maybe she needed to since Sho had a baby sister…and also they'd be getting married when they became adults, eighteen for her and twenty for him she'd looked it up online, and that seemed like it was far away…but now it also sort of didn't and….and she really needed to talk to Sho….

Or at least someone who could get him on the phone.

"Is Sho there? Um….big brother? Nisan? Anata no…ani wa….so-soko ni…imasu ka?" asked Emmy. That felt like…well it felt like she had said it right…but Japanese was complicated and there was a baby screaming at her…and also…breaking things? It sounded like they were in the middle of a hurricane, which they got in Japan sometimes….or an Earthquake…and Earthquake would have been more brilliant then a hurricane…like everything shaking and such. That would have been brilliant but also maybe frightening….she hoped that nothing like that was happening…and she hoped that Sho got his phone away from his baby sister soon….

"Shō! Doa o akeru! Tattaima! Asoko!" shouted Mukai. There was the sound of pounding as she repeated some combination of those words over and over again. Emmy turned down the volume on her phone. She could hear mum walking about the house. The last thing she needed was her mum yelling at her for being on the phone this late….and calling foreign places…and having a boyfriend who she planned on marrying…plus there was the banana she had on her windowsill with the bit of aloe sticking out…supposedly it was supposed to take root and then she'd have banana flavored aloe. So far all she had was a brown banana with a bit of aloe in it. Not brilliant at all.

Even less brilliant than whatever this was.

"Asoko! Tattaima! Sho!" shouted Mukai. Emmy closed her eyes and sighed. Maybe she needed to hang up and try again later, when Sho was less busy with whatever he was, or at least when he was near his phone. She needed to get to bed, too, she had to get up early in the morning so she could get to school before the second years did. They were the worst….probably because the third years were always teasing them…and the fourth years always teased the third years. School was just teasing, teasing, and then more teasing.

Sho was so lucky, he didn't have to go to school.

He didn't have to go to school and he got to travel the world with his family…and he was friends with his older sister…and he had a cute little sister….he was so lucky. What did she have? Boring stuff…school in the morning….aloe in a banana…a ring on her finger. The ring on her finger was the most brilliant thing she owned. Not just because it was cool, it was a human tooth after all, but also because it came from Sho. She brought her ring down to her lips and kissed it.

She'd try him again later…or tomorrow.

"Mukai? I'm going to…um….watashi-" said Emmy

"Anata wa daredesuka, soshite naze anata wa watashi no musuko o yonde imasu ka?" That…wasn't Mukai. The voice on the phone wasn't anyone she knew. That was…a man's voice. It sounded bored…well she thought that it sounded bored, she didn't know Japanese that well. She didn't know how to speak it or understand it…and now she was talking to his dad…

Her boyfriend's dad.

That was….this was…meetings mums and dads was important. Her sister had said so. Meeting parents was so stressful, Deborah had said, that it almost wasn't worth it. A boy had to be a really good snog, she had said, for her to get all dressed up and meet his parents. Emmy had no idea if Sho was a good snog or not, or even what counted as being a good snog, but she did know that she loved him…and if his dad didn't like her then he could forbid Sho from seeing her and then they would be like Romeo and Juliet but without the poison drinking. Not unless they drank the antidote, too, or exposed themselves to small doses of the poison so they got immune…would that have worked with every single type of poison or just specific ones?

She'd have to look this up.

But later. Right now she had to think about words, Japanese ones. Also she had to think about conjugation. Japanese conjugation. She had to bring out her best Japanese so she could knock Sho's dad on his arse and then he'd be all happy that she was marrying his son. Sho had said that her dad was the worst person ever…but he couldn't have been that bad…and if he was as bad as Sho said then she could practice drinking poison for when she had to do the Romeo and Juliet thing.

Maybe rat poison….or bug spray….she'd have to think about this some more.

"Kon'nichiwa Suzuki-san…Suzuki-sama….Suzuki-" said Emmy. What did you call other people's parents. Not tan, chan, or kun….something else…san or sama….or…whatever else there was….why were there so more words!? She had to find the right one or he'd hate her and then she'd have to drink poison and maybe she'd end up like the lady who drank soy sauce and then her organs shut down one by one and then-

"Suzuki-san to you…if you are who you think you are." Said Sho's dad. Emmy racked her brain. Was that just bad English or did he mean something by that? He sounded like…well actually he sounded like an American. Sho sounded Asian when he spoke English and so did his older sister and their nanny too. That blind master, too, he was even worse about it than Sho. Suzuki-san sounded like he was from America, he didn't have any kind of an Asian accent at all…but that didn't mean that he spoke good English….or maybe it was a riddle? Who did she think she was…wait…did he mean it like when mum said 'who do you think you are' or…or something even worse?

This was bloody complicated.

"I-I'm-" said Emmy

"I apologize. If you are who I think you are." Said Sho's dad. Emmy sighed. Her grip went all loose like the tendons in her hand had snapped, which was a thing that happened to people sometimes only it didn't happen all at once and when it did it really fecking hurt, and she nearly dropped her phone right onto her face again. She didn't. That would have been stupid. She caught it at the last minute. That was smart.

"Who…who do you think I am, Suzuki-san?" asked Emmy

"…the girl my son is planning on marrying." Said Sho's dad. He sounded sad when he said that…well sort of sad. Like being bored and sad at the same time….well he shouldn't have been sad! He shouldn't have been sad just because…because…because she wasn't Japanese or because she was Irish or because she would never fit into his family because she was different and weird and…and…and….

Feck him!

"Yeah, I am…and I don't care how you feel." Said Emmy

"What do you mean?" asked Sho's dad.

"You were sad and I guess because I'm not Japanese or…or…or because I'm still in school…or…or whatever!" said Emmy. She had maybe been too loud…but if she got her phone taken away then it didn't matter. she was tired of being away from her boyfriend…of people keeping them apart…of people telling her that she was too young….she was just tired!

Maybe because it was past ten o'clock at night.

"No…no, I have no problem with that or…or anything other aspects of yourself. I mean I know nothing at all about you but I do think that you're good for my son." Said Sho's dad.

"Oh…sorry." said Emmy

"About?" asked Sho's dad

"I said something daft…sorry." said Emmy

"You said nothing of the sort…and even if you had I wouldn't have held it against you. I have more tact than that." Said Sho's dad

"What's tact?" asked Emmy

"A word which means manners. Pointing out someone's social mistakes are impolite in both of our cultures. Normally I wouldn't care but I wouldn't want to make a bad first impression." Said Sho's dad.

"Wait…you're worried about making a bad first impression? That's daft…sorry." said Emmy

"Daft is a word which means…foolish? I apologize, your English isn't the dialect I'm familiar with." Said Sho's dad. Emmy…had no idea if this was good or bad. She couldn't tell from his tone. She thought he sounded bored…but if he was bored then he would have given the phone to Sho. This was good, he liked her. If she and Sho were going to be married then she had to get on with his dad….though she hoped that Sho never met mum…mum was completely mad.

"It does…but I didn't mean to call you that. I meant that you were being like that…sorry! I'm the one who's being daft." Said Emmy. This was why nobody liked her. She was the worst!

"No. I don't find you foolish at all. Actually I find you pleasant to speak with. Well your dialect is difficult for me but that's just because I'm out of practice." Said Sho's dad

"In normal English or American English? Because you sound like you're an American and that's odd because Sho doesn't and neither does Shigeko. I don't know what Mukai sounds like since she didn't speak English to me." Said Emmy

"Your English…and I sound like this because I sound like my mother. Sho and Shigeko learned English later in life. Mukai doesn't speak anything other than Japanese. Your Japanese is…an attempt which you have made. You'll pick it up eventually…and if you choose not to then that's fine. I can find a translator for you when the time comes…not that I have any idea when that day will come." Said Sho's dad. Emmy…she didn't know when that day would come either…and she didn't want to think about it. There was…there was a lot of good that came when she thought about it. How she and Sho would get to be together forever and kiss whenever they wanted to…those were good things…but also there were other things….like how she would have to move to a country she had never been to that spoke a language that she didn't know…or Sho would come here and then mum would be horrid to him and then he wouldn't be happy because nobody liked it when people were horrid to them….and there were other things to think about too….so many things…

She didn't want to think about any of that right now.

"Did you know that if you put a piece of aloe in a banana then you can get a whole new aloe plant?" asked Emmy

"No, I was not aware of that. Is this something that you've attempted?" asked Sho's dad

"I'm trying it, yeah, but it's not going….I'll have to try again. It's not like cutting pieces of a starfish off. You know if you cut a starfish in half you'll get two new ones?" asked Emmy

"No, that's incorrect. The starfish will regenerate on only one side…and that doesn't always happen. Sometimes you'll just kill the starfish….do not attempt this." said Sho's dad.

"I'll never be able to, anyway. We've not got any starfish here. Plenty of earth worms though. I tried to cut those in half to get two new worms but they kept on dying…then my mum told me not to play in the garden. Mum never lets me play in the garden." Said Emmy

"My mother was much the same way…many mothers are….though fathers can be much the same I've noticed." Said Sho's dad

"My dad's not like that…he doesn't really care what I do but not in a good way like how you don't care what Sho does. You're brilliant like that, letting him travel all the time and such. I wish my dad was like you." Said Emmy

"I…wish that I had someone like you for a daughter…you're very good for my son. You deserve someone better than-" said Sho's dad. He shouldn't have been saying what he had been about to say…but he had been…or maybe not. She had no idea what he had been about to say. She couldn't hear him above Sho shouting….whatever it was that he was shouting.

Her Japanese wasn't that good.

"Otōsan? ! Anata wa nani o shite iru to omoimasu ka! ? Watashi no denwa o oite kudasai! Watashi no kuso denwa o oite, anata jishin no gārufurendo o mitsukete hanashite kudasai!" said Sho. She coukd hear him clear as day….her heart was about to explode like what happened to divers when they came up too fast from the ocean. She held her phone close to her chest. There was a lot of Japanese shouting, all words that she didn't know, but it didn't matter.

She hadn't heard Sho's voice in weeks.

"Emmy? Emmy, you there?" asked Sho. She almost didn't say a word. That way he would have kept on saying her name….she needed to hear his voice…she needed to hear him saying her name….the way he said it….she was all warm and gooey on the inside like what happened to that guy who got microwaved only she felt good and wasn't dying.

Not dying in the bad way, anyway.

"H-hey, Sho….how are you?" asked Emmy. She slapped herself upside the head. That had been the stupidest thing that anyone had ever said in the history of any language and now she had no choice but to eat the rotting aloe banana and hope that she wasn't immune to rotting banana poison. Maybe in the next life she would have been able to be reincarnated into someone who could carry on a bloody conversation!

"I'm so fucking sorry about my dad! Hes such a fucking asshole and just…fuck him! He can go suck a bag of dicks! In a public bathroom! In the grossest way possible! He can…." Said Sho. Emmy nodded. Even when he cursed he sounded…he sounded so….he was so…he was so…..Sho. She didn't mind if he was curing about his dad, who wasn't that bad actually, she was just happy to hear his voice. She hadn't heard him in so long…..too long….and she knew that if she hung up then she might have gone weeks and weeks, again, without hearing his voice…she knew what she had to do. She stayed up all night listening to him complain about his dad. It didn't matter how late it got.

Midnight in London was only nine in the morning in Tokyo, after all.