Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom, the characters, or the series that solely belong to Butch Hartman, Nickelodeon, and Viacom International. I just own my characters that I create unless I say otherwise.


The Return of Familiar Faces

At a park, Danny and Mariko were currently sparring with one another. However, the past two weeks was a nightmare for Danny. The first week began when his foe, Nicolai Technus, somehow got loose and wreaked havoc while upgrading himself in a process. The results were rather...terrifying as the ghost boy remembered...


Flashback:

In an electronics store, the FFAV crashed into a large display of TV sets as all of the screens displayed a green skull with red eyes before the face of Technus was displayed as the ghost cackled maniacally. Soon, the technology-obsessed ghost began fusing several appliances to the vehicle.

A flat screen television set attaches itself to the vehicle

"Hmm...plasma screen...!"

Then a speaker system fuses to the FFAV as well.

"Surround sound...!"

Then, an odd device that had a coil with something that resembled a satellite dish attaches itself to the roof of the vehicle

"I don't know what this thing does...!"

Suddenly, 3 more TV screens with remotes as well as every other electronic devices and appliances began to merge with the vehicle. The mess glows neon green before exploding sending Danny backwards. The ghost boy looks in horror to see the result; a massive robot that resembled a centaur but instead of half man, half horse, it looked like a humanoid merged to the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle as Technus bellowed

"BEHOLD! THE NEW TECHNUS 2.0!" he adopts a lower voice. "Now with pop-up block app!"

Technus activates a laser with captures Danny in an energy field as the ghost boy was suspended from the ground. However, he was not deterred

"Sounds like the same old Technus to me." he quips. "What do you say you shout out your plan and get this thing over with?"

In response, Technus boasts

"Technus 2.0 does not reveal his secrets." he crossed his arms with pride. "Go on, try me."

Danny was worried as he tried to think of something before he asks

"Erm...boxers or briefs?"

"NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" Technus bellows. "See?"

Technus grabs Danny before throwing him through the wall of the store. The ghost boy lands into a dumpster as the lid closes on him while Technus made his escape. Danny grimaced at the sight of his fleeing foe.

Flashback ends


What was supposed to be a "weekend o'fun" turned into a weekend of taking down his newly evolved foe. Danny needed a way to do both simultaneously. However, when using the Fenton Ghost Catcher, resulting in dividing Danny's ghost half from his human half, the results were unexpected. While his ghost half was heroic, his human half was irresponsible and carefree. Despite that, Danny managed to regain his ghost half and defeat his opponent.

However, the second week was far worse. Youngblood returned. However, the little bratty ghost was getting back at Danny in a way he didn't expect; while Danny was the only one who can see him, his parents and his sister were unable to. As a result, they thought Danny was going crazy, even when the entire Fenton family were going on vacation. The ghost boy eventually turned the tide against Youngblood in a way he didn't think of previously.


Flashback:

While Danny was trapped in the FFAV due to the ghost shield, he activates the windshield wipers before water was launched at Jazz, soaking her.

"Oh! Real mature Danny." Jazz says unamused. "If you're going to be delusional, can you at least act your age?"

"Or you should act..." Danny pauses as he came to a realization. "your age?"

Danny gets an idea as he sprays water at Jazz again while she was wringing some out of her hair.

"Gah!"

As she grimaced at Danny, he says to her

"You're not an adult, Jazz. You're a kid just like me."

"We're focusing on your problems Danny, not mine." Jazz counters

Suddenly, Danny starts mocking her by making faces at her which starts to anger his elder sister. Grabbing the radio connected to loudspeakers, Danny begins teasing her by taunting

"Jazz is a spazz! Jazz is a spazz!"

Finally, Jazz has enough as she said

"Cut it out, you little brat!"

"I know you are, but what am I?"

Danny's antics start attracting the attention of Youngblood who was pushing the tent that Jack and Maddie were in, to the river. He flies off his skeletal horse to watch the show. Danny continues mocking Jazz until she turns her back on him. Suddenly, Danny sees something familiar in the vehicle as he picks up an old teddy bear that resembled Albert Einstein as he said

"Oh. Oh. Whos this?" he picks up a pitchfork. "Is this Bearbert Einstein?" Danny jabs the pitchfork into the stuffed animal's head. "Oh! Oh! Oh no!"

Jazz gasped in horror before she angrily turns around and shouts.

"Leave him alone!"

Danny rips the stuffing out as Jazz watched in horror while Youngblood laughed at the gesture. As Danny proceeds to rip more of the stuffing out of the toy, Jazz finally snaps as she starts throwing a temper tantrum while screaming

"PUT HIM DOWN! PUT HIM DOWN! PUT HIM DOWN!"

As Jazz got on her knees while sobbing, Danny glances at Youngblood who was laughing before he comments

"Man, she's even brattier than I am."

Jazz hears the ghost as she says

"Who said that?"

Youngblood instantly became shocked when Jazz heard him speak. Danny smiled as his plan worked. Turning around, Jazz finally sees Youngblood who was just floating in place, completely stunned.

"A ghost!" Jazz says in surprise as she turns to Danny. "You're not crazy!"

Flashback ends


As Danny blocked a punch from Mariko, the Japanese girl immediately does a sweep kick which knocks him off his feet. She instantly noticed Danny's focus wavering as he was getting up.

"Danny-kun? Is something wrong?" Mariko asks out of concern. "You should've seen that coming."

"Nothing." Danny said as he dusts himself

However, his girlfriend was unconvinced as she placed her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay. You got me." Danny confesses. "I'm still bugged how Youngblood couldn't be seen by my parents, yet I could." he puts his finger on his chin. "I just can't understand why."

Mariko understood as she replies

"That's because children are innocent, pure of heart; something that renders them immune to abilities that easily blind the wise and world-weary."

Danny listened to Mariko as she continued

"Still, we all lose our innocence as we age. I know it's sad, but it's the way things are."

The ghost boy began to ponder as he comments

"I wonder how Jazz was able to finally see Youngblood..." Danny pauses. "a few seconds after I tore up her teddy bear?" he says sheepishly.

Mariko heard him before she says

"Perhaps Jasmine-san is still a child at heart, despite that she believes herself to be an adult."

"Yeah, you could be right." Danny comments with a shrug before he gets in fighting stance. "Okay. I'm ready this time."

"Remember, maintain focus." Mariko says as she gets in stance as well.

Soon, the couple resumed sparring as Mariko threw her punches and kicks to Danny who blocked and countered with his own attacks, despite that Mariko blocked and dodged them as well. After a few minutes, they stepped it up as Danny and Mariko sparred with more intensity. Suddenly, Mariko managed to slide her foot behind Danny's to trip him, but the ghost boy saw it coming as he quickly delivered a kick.

However, the Japanese girl reacted faster than Danny anticipated as she not only blocked it, but she countered with a hip throw which sent Danny onto the ground before Mariko pinned him with her knee. She smirked, seeing him pinned down in that position.

"Not bad Danny-kun." Mariko comments. "I used to take you down in three minutes. Now it took me a solid eight."

"I guess you can say that you're teaching me well." Danny shyly said.

As Danny attempted to get up, Mariko simply pushed him back down with her hand causing the ghost boy to raise an eyebrow as they both had a flirtatious look

"Are you going to let me up?" he asks.

"After I do this." Mariko replies.

Then, Mariko leans down before she and Danny share a kiss with one another for three seconds. Once it ended, Mariko helps Danny get on his feet before the ghost boy dusts himself from the dirt. While he was doing so, Mariko spoke up.

"By the way, you should know that my cousins Satoshi and Hikaru are moving to Amity Park on a permanent basis."

Her news surprised Danny as he asked

"Oh really?"

"Mm-hm." Mariko replied with a nod. "They informed me last night that their folks got new jobs here so they'll be arriving in three days to settle in Amity Park."

"Tucker is going to be so happy to see Hikaru again." Danny comments as he transformed before picking up Mariko, bridal style.

As they flew off, Danny asks

"You think we should tell Tucker about this?"

"No need." Mariko replies. "Instead, I plan on making a little...arrangement for his reunion since I know Hikaru is genuinely interested in Tucker."

"No argument there." Danny says. "He's been emailing her nonstop ever since he got her number and email address."

The couple flew off invisibly into the horizon of the city as the sun began to set.


Three days have passed and it was now Saturday as Tucker was waiting at the Nasty Burger...rather impatiently. Apparently, Danny recently called and informed him to meet him there. However, Tucker received another call from his best friend, informing him that he was going to be late due to a ghost causing trouble. As the African boy was waiting, he checked his PDA to see what time it was before he pockets his device.

"Danny should've been here by now." he comments.

What Tucker did not know was that Danny and Mariko planned it out for the African boy to wait at the fast food restaurant due to a special guest meeting him there. Then, the doors silently opened as a certain Japanese girl with green eyes and blue streaks in her shoulder-length black hair sees him. She sneaks up to Tucker as the boy rests his head on his hands. Once she got in range, she quickly taps Tucker on the right shoulder.

The boy felt it as he quickly looked to his right to see no one there. Looking to his left, he sees a familiar face as the girl gave him a quick peck on the cheek. To say the least, Tucker was quite surprised to see this particular girl next to him.

"Hikaru?!"

"Hello Tucker-kun."

Tucker stands up and happily hugs Hikaru who instantly returned it.

"What are you doing here?" Tucker asks with excitement.

"Mariko-chan and Daniel-san informed me that you'd be here." Hikaru replied.

Her information surprised Tucker as he thought

"So they planned this?"

He instantly snaps back to reality as the African boy asks

"So, are you visiting Amity Park for the weekend?"

"Actually, Satoshi and I just finished moving here." Hikaru answers. "Our parents just got new jobs as pediatricians and pharmacists respectively. We're also going to attend Casper High as of Monday."

Tucker was stunned silent as he smiled and said

"Looks like we'll be seeing each other more often."

Hikaru chuckled before she says

"Yeah."

However, their moment was rudely interrupted when Dash suddenly shoved Tucker aside while a few other jocks laughed at the African boy's misfortune.

"Sup babe?" Dash says as he flexed his arms. "Name's Dash Baxter and..."

However, Hikaru interrupts him as she says with heavy annoyance

"I know who you are."

"Ah! You remember me." Dash says happily as he was completely oblivious that Hikaru wasn't happy to see him.

"Yes and I remember my brother Satoshi giving you a series of wedgies." Hikaru replied while she narrowed her eyes.

All the while, Danny and Mariko recently entered the Nasty Burger and watched the ordeal. The ghost boy was about to step in when Mariko stopped him by placing her hand on his shoulder. The Japanese girl simply gestured him to watch as Dash said to Hikaru

"So babe, if you're done talking to that loser, how about we go out on a date?"

Hikaru simply said

"I don't date jerks at all."

However, Dash was undeterred as he said

"Come on, babe. Are you seriously considering that loser over a real guy like me?" he flexed his right arm.

Hikaru simply rolled her eyes in annoyance before she said

"How's this for your answer?"

Suddenly, Hikaru sent a hard kick to Dash, striking him in between his legs. The impact caused the blonde jock to bend over as he had an extremely pained expression before he placed his hands on the area where the Japanese girl kicked him, got on his knees, and lied on his side in a fetal position. As Dash groaned, trying his hardest not to scream in agonizing pain while his eye twitched, the other jocks groaned as they put their hands on their...sensitive area protectively.

"Right in the batteries." Danny whispered as he too cringed at what he just saw.

Hikaru simply huffed in annoyance before turns around and helps Tucker up.

"Are you okay Tucker-kun?" Hikaru asks in concern.

"I'm fine." Tucker replies as he dusts himself off.

"What do you say we get going and meet up with Mariko-chan and Daniel-san?" Hikaru offers. "I'm sure they'll be here at any moment."

"Sure."

Despite that they immediately saw the said individuals, the teens left a downed Dash who was still trying his hardest not to scream. As the other jocks went to their football teammate, one of them asks the blonde

"Dash! You okay?"

Dash was groaning in severe pain as he finally managed to speak in a voice that made him sound like a chipmunk with a sore throat.

"I think...she likes me, man!"

Dash continued suffering the results of the attack as the other jocks helped him take a seat while one of them left to obtain some ice.


It was Monday at Casper High. Activity was buzzing in the hallway as Hikaru and Satoshi emerged from Principal Ishiyama's office with their schedules in their respective hands.

"Anata wa kore no junbi ga dekite imasu ka?" Satoshi asks

(Translation: You ready for this?)

"Junbi wa dekite imasu ka." Hikaru replies.

(Translation: As ready as you are.)

The two departed for the library to obtain their respective textbooks before they separated to their lockers. While Hikaru reached hers, opened it, and placed her belongings inside, Satoshi was walking down to his own. As he glanced at the locker numbers, the Japanese boy did not realize he was going to bump into someone...

Star was walking down the hallway to her locker in anger from something or someone that caused her ire, when an individual accidentally bumped into her. Not only did her belongings dropped from the impact, the items that belonged to the individual, who bumped into her, dropped as well. As they squat down to pick up their respective items, Star apologetically said

"Oh. I'm so sorry."

"No."

Star hears an unfamiliar male voice. Looking up, she sees a muscular Japanese boy who had slicked back black hair and hazel eyes wearing a dark gray shirt, black jeans, and black shoes. In the blonde girl's perspective, this boy looked quite cute as they stood up. Upon doing so, Star noticed that he stood nearly six feet despite being a teenager while the boy handed her book as he said

"I'm the one who should be sorry."

Star started to blush as she shyly said

"...It's okay."

"My name's Satoshi Furukama." Satoshi said as he bowed to Star.

"Star." the blonde girl replied. "Nice to meet you Satoshi."

"Likewise Star." Satoshi said.

It was then that Star noticed the schedule in the Japanese boy's hand before she asks

"Mind if I see your schedule?"

"Sure." Satoshi replies as he hands his schedule over to Star.

The blonde girl looks at it for a solid minute. As she did, Star noticed the locker number almost instantly, much to her surprise due to it being approximately ten feet from her own.

"If you want, I can show you where your locker is." Star offers as she hands Satoshi his schedule back. "Since it's near mine."

"Sure." Satoshi replies in gratitude. "Lead the way."

While Star leads the newcomer, they didn't know that a set of eyes were watching them, out of shock and jealousy.


Meanwhile, Hikaru was walking down the hall before she locates her own locker. Once she finally locates it, the girl inputs her combination provided before she opens it and begins placing her textbooks and her other belongings into it. Several minutes passed as Hikaru was about to close her locker when an arm rested on her left shoulder. Looking to her right, she sees a jock next to her, much to her annoyance.

"Hey cutie." Dale greets with a flirtatious look. "Where have you been hiding?"

Hikaru looked extremely annoyed as she said

"Avoiding jerks like Dash-teme, you, and the others."

Her response did nothing to deter Dale as the jock persisted

"Well, since Dash didn't score a date with you" Dale holds Hikaru's hand. "How about you and I hit it off?"

Now Hikaru looked extremely angry before she pulled her hand out of his and then grimaced

"How would you like to get kicked in the same place where I kicked Dash-teme?"

Dale finally got the message as he backed away in fear while saying

"I...I see that you're busy, so I'll just..." he points to an area behind him "get going."

The jock runs away quickly before Hikaru huffs in annoyance. Looking at her schedule, the girl sees that her homeroom was about to begin before walking off. On her way there, she sees her cousin Mariko with Danny, Sam, and Tucker. The African boy was more than delighted to see Hikaru again as he saw smile.

"Hey you." Tucker happily greets.

"Hi Tucker-kun."

While Tucker and Hikaru hugged one another, Satoshi arrives as Star was leading him to the classroom. Upon arriving, the Japanese boy instantly recognized who his sister was hugging and who was accompanying his cousin. However, his focus was mainly locked on to the classroom that Star led him to.

"So this is it?" Satoshi asks.

"Yeah. This is the classroom." Star replies.

Eventually, the warning bell started going off as the group entered the classroom to avoid being tardy.


After the end of fourth period, while every student placed their belongings in their respective lockers before heading to the cafeteria for lunch, Satoshi closed his locker door before heading off in the direction where the cafeteria was located. As he was, the Japanese boy sees a few jocks tormenting a student by playing a mock game of monkey in the middle, throwing his backpack to one another while ensuring their victim couldn't reach it.

"Come on, you guys!" the teen begged. "Stop it!"

While the jock caught it, the teen tried to get it back but was pushed onto the floor rather roughly as the other one laughed.

"Too bad the teachers aren't snooping around." he taunts. "So we get to wail on you as we please."

Suddenly, they hear an unfamiliar male voice speak up.

"Hey!"

The jock who had the backpack turned around. Upon doing so, he was instantly horror-stricken when looks up to see the taller boy standing right behind him. The look on his face clearly suggested that he was not pleased at the sight. The other jock was intimidated by the sight of this teen as well, due to the fact that he appeared to be six feet in height.

"Leave him alone." Satoshi says in a warning tone while staring down at him, literally.

The bullies merely gulped in fear before Mr. Lancer arrived

"What seems to be the problem?" the teacher asks

Then, Satoshi spoke up.

"I saw these two tormenting a student, Lancer-sama." Satoshi points to the teen who was still on the floor.

Mr. Lancer sees the backpack in the jock's hand which confirms Satoshi's claim. Once the jock dropped the backpack, Mr. Lancer grabs both of them by the wrist and drags them to the principal's office. As they left, Satoshi grabs the backpack and hands it back to the teen as he was getting back on his feet.

"You okay, kid?" Satoshi asks out of concern.

"I'm okay." the teen replies as he slung his backpack on. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

The teen saw that this boy, despite his height and intimidating demeanour, was actually friendly to him.


It was the start of lunch as the cafeteria was loaded with students. With a certain green-eyed Japanese girl, she was looking around the cafeteria as she thought to herself

"I wonder where Tucker-kun is?"

As Hikaru continued to look around, her brother was in a different area.

When Satoshi received his lunch, he was walking to take a seat at a table. While he looked around, the boy was approached by a Latina girl; one that he recognized by the description from not only Mariko, but Danny as well. In the Japanese boy's perception, this girl had tanned skin, teal eyes, and black hair that reached her waist. She also wore a pink shirt that revealed her midriff, pants that were the same shade as her eyes, and white shoes.

There was one little detail that the Japanese boy knew; when he left his 3rd class to his locker, he saw Star arguing with that girl in the hall before storming off. Satoshi concluded that Star may have been once a friend with her before the animosity between them began for an unknown reason.

"Hi. You must be Satoshi." she greets, oblivious of Satoshi clearly not happy to see her. "I'm Paulina."

Satoshi simply ignores Paulina as he walked around her, leaving the Latina girl stunned. As she gasped dramatically, Paulina just watched this Japanese boy walked away from her.

"Hey!" Paulina shouts, getting the boy's attention.

Satoshi turns around and looks at Paulina with an annoyed look as the Latina girl ranted

"Don't you think it's rude to ignore a lady who is talking to you?!"

"From what I've heard, and witnessed beforehand in the hall, you deserve no respect." Satoshi calmly counters before turning his back. "Besides, I'm not interested in anything you have to offer."

Paulina once more gasped dramatically from the Japanese boy's words as she witnessed him walk towards a table where Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Mariko were sitting at, as Hikaru joined them as well. Eventually, the Latina girl huffed before walking away to her table.

With Danny and the others, they were simply talking amongst each other.

"Things are different from Mariko's previous description of how this school is." Hikaru comments.

"Let's just say your cousin did some help in sorting things out." Sam comments knowingly.

"How so?" Satoshi asks out of curiosity.

"Tonikaku, taihen'na roryoku o yoshimashita." Mariko replies in her native language.

(Translation: Let's just say, it took a lot of effort.)

Satoshi and Hikaru simply understood what their cousin said and just decided to change the subject.

"So, Hikaru," Tucker begins as he got the Japanese girl's attention. "After school, what do you say you and I eat at the Nasty Burger?"

The girl smiled before she suggested.

"I love to Tucker-kun, but I think it's more preferable for us to do so on Friday."

Tucker thought of it for a minute before he nodded in agreement and said

"Yeah, you're right. It would be better if we go on Friday."

Hikaru smiled at Tucker's response, seeing that he was understanding of her suggestion. Then, Danny proceeds to ask.

"By the way Satoshi?"

"Yes?"

"What did Paulina wanted to speak to you about?" Danny asks in curiosity.

"It doesn't matter." Satoshi replies. "All she did was tell me was her name, but that was it. I didn't bother to listen what she had to say." he admits.

"Yeah. We saw you walking away." Sam said with smirk.

While the teens were chatting, they or more specifically, Satoshi was being watched by a set of turquoise eyes at a distance; eyes that belonged to a certain blonde girl.


At another table, Star was staring at Satoshi. She had a small smile on her face at first, but her thoughts were elsewhere as her expression changed to a scowl while she thought in bitterness

"I can't believe the nerve of Paulina! Especially Kwan not even refusing her advances!"

As Star was lost in her thoughts, Valerie arrived and took her seat across the blonde girl as she noticed her friend's look.

"Star? Is something wrong?" Valerie asks out of concern.

Star instantly changes her expression as she tried her true emotions while responding to her,

"It's okay Val. I'm good."

Valerie didn't buy it for one minute as she simply said

"Come on, girl. What's wrong?"

Star expressed her true emotion as she confessed.

"Well, I just caught Paulina flirting with Kwan earlier before school began. Not to mention, the jerk didn't even ignore that...witch's advances." She grimaced the last part.

"Ooh. I'm so sorry to hear that." Valerie said compassionately.

Then, Valerie glared at Paulina as she said bitterly

"I can't believe she'd pull something like that, knowing that you and Kwan were dating."

"Forget him." Star says. "I've already broke things off with him." she crosses her arms. "Even gave Paulina a piece of my mind."

"Don't worry, girl. Things will get better." Valerie assures her friend.

"Yeah, I know." Star replies.

Then, the blonde girl's gaze lands on a certain Japanese boy at a distance; one who was socializing with his friends and family. Valerie noticed it before she looks to see who Star was looking at and understood why her focus suddenly wavered. Even she had a smile before she looks back at her friend.

"He is cute, isn't he?"

Star tried to play coy as she said nervously

"What? Who?"

Valerie had a teasing look as she responded

"Come now, girl. I can see you got the hots for the new guy."

Star blushed before she admits

"Okay. I won't lie, I am crushing on Satoshi." She glanced down a bit. "I mean, when we first bumped into each other, I thought he would accept my apology, but instead..." Star looks up at Valerie " he apologizes to me."

The African girl was intrigued from the information that her friend gave her. Soon, Valerie spoke up.

"Well, just take things one at a time girl. You don't want him to believe that you see him as a rebound guy."

"I know." Star replied with an understanding tone.

The blonde girl once again sets her gaze on the very Japanese boy whom she bumped into at the beginning of the school day.


Hours have passed and soon enough, it was the end of the school day. As every student walked to their own respective lockers, Star walked to her own. As she was inputting her locker combination, the girl hears footsteps approaching. Turning around to the source, Star sees Kwan walking to her as she immediately had a scowl on her face upon the sight of him.

"What are you doing here?" Star asks, clearly not in the mood to see him.

"Star, I just want to talk." Kwan says.

"You want to talk?!" Star asks while placing a book into her locker before facing him. "Let's talk."

"Look Star," Kwan begins hesitantly. "About what you saw earlier...between me and Paulina, I..."

However, Star interrupts the jock as she snaps while slamming her locker shut

"Save it! I've already seen and heard enough. It's so like you Kwan; always caving in to peer pressure."

"No I...don't!" Kwan counters, rather hesitantly.

"Hm! Let's see." Star begins while pretending to ponder. "giving in to Paulina's advances, not even saying "no" or rejecting her when she was flirting with you..." She glares at the jock. "Need I say more?"

Kwan tried to counter her claim at first. However, he couldn't find the will to speak.

"So tell me, why did you allow yourself to be hit on by Paulina?" Star asks. "Let alone refrained from telling her we were dating?"

When Kwan couldn't answer, Star noticed and rolled her eyes with an annoyed scoff

"I figured as much." she says. "Listen Kwan," Star points her finger to Kwan's chest. "I want nothing to do with you anymore, got it?! If you want to be with that witch, then that's your choice!" she begins to turn away. "But you are not going to make me miserable."

Kwan was absolutely stunned as he watched Star walk away. The jock couldn't find it in him to try and patch things up with the blonde girl. All he could do was watch for a minute before leaving to his locker.

Meanwhile, Satoshi was heading to his locker in a different direction. Suddenly, he sees Star with a rather...angry look walking in the opposite direction that he was taking. The Japanese boy noticed that she wasn't watching where she was going, as if her body was on autopilot. Concerned of the blonde girl's well-being, Satoshi gets her attention.

"Star?"

The blonde girl hears the Japanese boy's voice which instantly snapped her out of her thoughts before she turned to him and replied.

"Oh. Hi Satoshi."

"Is something wrong?" Satoshi asks out of concern. "I've noticed your anger lately."

Star was surprised that this new guy, she recently met at the beginning of the school day, was being genuinely concerned about her as she looked at him in his eyes. However, she remained silent as Satoshi took it as a sign that Star wasn't ready to talk yet.

"All right. You don't have to tell me." he says. "But if you need someone to talk to, I'm willing to listen."

As Satoshi walked off, Star couldn't help but watch him as she just stood in her spot. The blonde girl started to have a small smile, mainly because this individual was concerned about her. Eventually, the blonde girl proceeds to walk out of the campus to return home.

Meanwhile, Hikaru was on the phone with her mother as she closed her locker door while speaking in Japanese.

"Īe, mada ani ni atte imasen."

(Translation: No. I haven't seen my brother yet.)

Hikaru was silent for a minute before she said.

"Izen, takkā wa watashi ni hokago kare to issho ni jikan o sugosu yo ni tanonda. Daijobudesuka?"

(Translation: Earlier, Tucker asked me to spend time with him after school. Is it okay?)

Hikaru listened to her mother's response before she smiled and said

"Kekko. Watashi wa shukudai o kanryo suru tame ni hayaku ie ni kaerimasu."

(Translation: Very well. I'll be home early to complete my homework.)

After Hikaru ends her call, the girl proceeds to dial a number before she waits for a few seconds. Then, she hears a familiar voice through the other line; one that made the green-eyed Japanese girl smile.

"Hello?"

"Hello Tucker-kun. I spoke with my mother and if your offer is still open, I'll be more than happy to spend time with you at the Nasty Burger." Hikaru says. "I just need to be home early to do my homework."

"Oh, that's great!" Tucker replies with excitement. "I'll be waiting for you at the entrance of the school."

"See you soon."

Hikaru hangs up before she makes her way towards the exit where the African boy, whom she was fond of, was waiting for her. There, upon sight, she sees him accompanied by his friends, her cousin Mariko, and her brother Satoshi.


And done. I apologize for the LOOOOOOONG wait. Been busy with real life situations, preparing for the holidays, the usual stuff that happens now and again. Stay tuned for the next chapter and be sure my other stories that I may post/update in the future; especially since I have a different one that I'm going to update soon.


Batrenz: Patience my friend.

DJ Rodriguez: That's a ton of reviews you've took your time to post for each chapter. Thanks a lot for that.

Guest (11/05/2021): You'll see what I have in mind.

Guest (09/11/2021): I'm glad you like it.

pleasereadme: tempting, but I don't think it's necessary.

Dreams Come True 996: I couldn't agree more.

Dragonrule: I'm glad it was to your liking.

NiteOwl18: You'll see what I have in mind for Valerie's rivalry with Mariko.


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