Waking up the next day on his pull-out sofa Brendi frowns at the sudden light coming in through the window. The Sun was searing his face and he had apparently been sweating for some time, as his pillow and brow were both pretty wet. Jeez, I really need some curtains.´
As he gets up Brendi turns on his small tv and take a look at his clock.

" Eleven am, huh? I better get used to getting up a little earlier, school starts tomorrow after all."

The low-buz of the tv followed Brendi around the appartment as he made his way, dressing himself, washing up and searching for whatever he could dig up for breakfast.Clean and dressed Brendi´s sitting at his table with his very sparse breakfast of a few loaves of bread. Chewing on his breakfast Brendi considers his options for the day.

It doesn´t take long before his eyes settles on his bags of personal items.

Hmm, I think I should get properly unpacked, I´ve been stalling it for too long. This place needs some things to make it more homey...is that even a word?´

With a not-so-serious sigh Brendi gets up and glares at his remaining stuff, not that there´s very much, just a few personal tidbits like photographs and posters.
It shouldn´t really take that long, but Brendi wanted to get things just right. A home should feel like home after all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

After spending a few hours to make things just right Brendi finally declares his 1-room appartment finished, except for those damn curtains, of course.
A sudden craving for something sweet hits Brendi as he looks out his window gazing at the few people buzzing by in the street below him.

The sun shines through a hole in the layer of clouds above him as Brendi locks the door to his appartment. Brendi hums a tune he heard on the tv last night as he walks to the end of the balcony and skips down the stairs. A few of the steps creak in protest of his weight, but all of the white, wooden steps endure. " I got just the place for sweets in mind, that small bakery on the other side of the park. And it´s only a few blocks away."

His stroll leads him past the humongous property he passes everytime he goes on his strolls.

I wonder who owns this place, must be some pretty successful people, maybe...who´s that?´As he passes on the other side of the street a port inside the gate opens and a small girl steps out with a big white dog on a leash.
She got chestnut hair with two pigtails bouncing off her head, wearing a blue, longsleeved tee-shirt with a red skirt and red shoes.
What is with those pigtails?...Bounce,bounce,bounce,bounce,bounce...´
Closing the door Chiyo notices the big, hairy guy staring at her from the other side of the street and the little girl freezes.

Ah! Who is that? And why is he staring at me? I´m always told not to talk to strangers, better act like nothing...Just act as nothing Chiyo, just act as nothing.´

"Come on, Tadakichi-san, it´s a stroll!" Trying to look as inconspicous as she can ( not very good) Chiyo starts walking down the street opposite of the stranger, who starts to walk with her, but after a while he shakes his head and stops staring.

Brendi shakes his head and thinks to himself.
Jeez, man, you gotta stop freaking out these poor girls, even if they possess some quite remarkable traits.´

He had now been walking paralell with the little gal for some time, and he was starting to think he was freaking her out.
Before he knew it he had crossed the street and called out to her. As he did she froze in the shade of a tree and turned, looking scared to death.

"Ano, c-c-can I help you Gaijin-san?" Brendi bows before he answers the little girl. As if to reassure her. "Ah, yes I´m sorry, I just wanted to apologize for staring so rudely at you before. I didn´t mean to upset you, but I obviously did. So..I just wanted to say, I´m sorry, I am Hulvej Brendi a new neighbour around these parts."

The little girl looked at him oddly for a few seconds before she bowed back and answered.

"Ah, I accept your apology, I am Mihama Chiyo...ano..Nice to meet you Brendi-san, please excuse me." And with that she was off down the road, still looking slightly frightened, if not as afraid as before.

"Phew, I´m glad I sorted that a little bit at least, before I get known as a child-stalker or something around these parts. That would really screw up my stay."

Brendi decides to add a notch to his speed as the day was carrying on and midday was about to pass into evening.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ten minutes later Brendi reaches the other end of the park and the bakery is in sight. It has pink walls with two big windows filled with various pastries. Both windows have curtains with red and white stripes, the door has a big poster saying "2 taiyaki for the price of one! Only today!".

"Hmm, I wonder what taiyaki are and what they taste like, I guess I´ll just have to find out."

Before Brendi reaches the entrance a girl rushes past him on his right and knocks him over, making him loose balance and fall on his ass to the asphalt. He only gets a small glance of black hair, some green and red before the girl disappears into the store, doorbell ringing rigorously.

"Tomo! You can´t do that to...oh, hell.." From behind him Brendi hears the voice and the accompying footsteps come up beside him and he´s looking up at a girl with long brown hair and a pair of big glasses perched on her nose, making her look positively professional. Dressed in jeans and a brown, sleeveless shirt the girl he´s looking at reaches out a hand and smiles. "I´m sorry about that, when my friend gets excited about something she isn´t stopped easily."

Brendi grasps the hand and let the girl help him up. After dusting himself off Brendi straightens and smiles. "Hahaha, all in good fun, right?. Thanks for the hand."

"It was nothing."

Yomi looks suspiciously at the , obviously, gaijin fellow in front of her. After a second she classifies him as " A fairly mellow person" and decides to be friendly.

"You seemed like you were about to go in yourself, lets check up on my friend, why don´t we?"

Rubbing his head Brendi grins at the girl in front of him. "Lets! I am Hulvej Brendi, by the way."
"Pleased to meet you, I am Mizuhara Koyomi, my irratic friend is Takino Tomo."

When the two enters they see the small girl standing in front of the desk, pointing at the different taiyakis she wants.

"You´re going to eat four this time? No wonder you´re that hyper!" The genki girl turns around and grins widely. "Well, I wouldn´t want to let you feel down just because you can´t eat any, so I´m eating for you as well. Who´s that you got there?"

"This is Brendi-san , the guy you ran over in your cravings for sugar. I think you should apologise to him, Tomo."

Tomo looks Brendi up and down a few times before she answers, leaning back with her elbows on the counter.

"How can I run over someone that big? Did you take a look at him? I mean..he´s like 2 metres tall and hairer than a yeti.." An embarrasing silence follows Tomo´s words, before she lights up innocently.

"..buuut...I do vaguely remember passing somebody before entering the store. You can have one of my fishies if you want to." The last words come out at the end of a grin almost stretching from ear to ear.

To Yomi´s surprised the big fellow beside her lets out a rolling bass laughter.
"Hahaha, well I´ll take you up on that, I don´t think I could eat two myself anyway. Which reminds me, how can someone as small as you order four of these things?"

Yomi´s looks puzzled on as the two opposites glide into an easy-going trade of teasing insults and playfulness. Brendi and Tomo had somehow instantly tuned into the same wavelength and were now getting along like they had been friends the whole of their lives. After a few moments of plain staring Yomi accepts the taiyaki Tomo´s handing her and without thinking starts munching on it.

"Tell me...have you two met before or something? I´ve never seen anyone actually enjoy talking to Tomo for this long before."

The two turn toward her with equally empty glances. After a few awkward seconds Tomo responds, holding her hand below her jaw in a thoughtful pose.

"I don´t know, it may be that this is just a ruse to extract my amazing ideas and great mind to use them in an evil plot against me!" At the last part Tomo shakes her fist at Brendi.

"Hahaha, nonono, You know how joy can come in big and small packages?..." Tomo just grins during the silence, while Yomi´s looking from one to the other "...or something like that, hahaha, but hey do you guys live around here? I´ve just moved into the neighbourhood and I´m joining the high school right over here tomorrow."

The table shakes as Tomo rises and smash her hands into it. "No way! You´re beginning there as well? Me and Yomi are also going to go there as of tomorrow. This is great! Lets hope we get in the same class! We can...Hey, wait...you say you´ve just moved here, is that with your parents or do you live by your own? Considering you´re a gaijin."

"I live on my own, it´s pretty sweet having my own place. Although living on the other side of the world from my parents is kinda weird."

At this Tomo´s eyes glaze over and she´s lost in thought. The chat continues for about a half-hour before Yomi announces that she and Tomo got to be going as they have to get ready for the day tomorrow.

Brendi waves after them as the walk off down another path in the park, hoping he´ll be seeing them the next day.
"Thinking of, I gotta get ready myself, I need to get to bed early myself if I´m going to get up in time."
Before long he´s back in his appartment, making supper and packing his bag for the day tomorrow, wondering what it´ll be like.
After eating and packing Brendi gets out his laptop to pass the time before it´s time for bed ( it is still abit early to go to bed after all.).
All the while hoping he´d get to be in the same class as the girls he´d met during the last days.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Under the horizone of a setting sun, lighting up the sky where it wasn´t blocked out by a myriade of grey clouds, the two girls are strolling down a sidewalk.

"Hmm, that was an odd-ball." Yomi thinks out loud, nibbling on another taiyaki (she had to get one after all, she couldn´t let Tomo get fat from all those pastries , now could she?...but wait...hadn´t Tomo given her one in the bakery as well?...)

"What? I think he was great!" Tomo replied, skipping a few steps ahead of Yomi, careful not to step on any lines.
Yomi looked up and gazed at her wildcat friend. "That´s because you two hit it off instantly, you gotta be abit more careful around strangers Tomo."

After skipping a few more steps Tomo stops and turns around and looks at Yomi with eyes seemingly off in the distance for a second. " I dunno...I wouldn´t have acted like that to any stranger who just happened to be a little silly, y´know? It was like meeting and old friend or something. Maybe we recognised eachother as the lively souls we are?"

Yomi couldn´t help but smile at her friends very in-character moment, not alot of people saw this side of Tomo.
"Jeez, are you going to go all Yin & Yang on me now? I never figured you for the spiritual type."

Tomo didn´t answer at first , but started her skipping again. "Ah, can´t a girl be allowed to believe in soul mates?"