"I remember way back as a youngster, all I wanted to be was a hustler

Gettin' caught was never thought much of

We were laughin' at the cops tryna bust us"

-SPM, 2001

Hachiman sighed in exasperation as he stepped out of the moving truck and looked over his family's new residence. A slightly dilapidated brown and green building surrounded by a patchy, poorly maintained lawn. Roughly what he expected. His dad put a hand on his shoulder, offering a slightly forced smile.

"See? It's not so bad. We didn't have a lawn back in Chiba!"

Hachiman gave him a dead stare in return, his dad awkwardly looking away.

"A-anyway… have you been practicing your English like we talked about?"

The young man sighed again, a habit that was quickly forming ever since he was told they would be moving thousands of miles away from their home.

"Yeah, dad. Can we just start unpacking? I'm tired."

His dad nodded, the two going to the back of the truck where Komachi and their mom had already opened the latch and were discussing how best to start putting things up. As time went on and more and more boxes found themselves inside the house, the girls started opening them and putting stuff up, leaving the task of moving the furniture to Hachiman and his dad. At first they had no trouble, quickly grabbing chairs and little tables and moving them back and forth, but when they picked up a huge wooden dresser, it was immediately clear that moving it would be a struggle.

Slowly, straining under the weight, they made their way to the house, when suddenly Hachiman's dad buckled a bit. For a moment it looked like they'd drop it, when a teenager about Hachi's age ran up, grabbing the corner and helping lift it up. His dad recovered, and the three of them carried the dresser much faster than just the two of them. Setting it down in the front entry, Hachi and his dad exhaled in equal parts relief and exhaustion, his dad turning to the teen that had helped them.

"Thank you for helping us."

His accent was very thick, but it was still clear what he was saying. The teenager shook his head a bit, waving it off nonchalantly with a hand and chuckling.

"No problem, saw y'all bout to drop it. Where'd y'all move here from?"

In a way, his accent was just as thick. Hachiman's dad, who had a pretty poor grasp on English, looked confused for a moment before Hachiman stepped in.

"Japan. My dad got a job here."

At this, the teen's eyebrows rose a bit as he nodded, lips pursed.

"Okay then, okay then. I'm Andre, by the way."

Andre put his hands together in an exaggerated bow, the type you'd see in a Chinese kung fu movie.

"Konichiwa."

Hachiman's dad smiled, just happy to hear something he recognized, while Hachi's expression remained neutral as he evaluated the guy in front of him. Was he mocking them, or was that an attempt at being friendly. He decided to test the waters.

"I'm Hachiman Hikigaya. Howdy."

He said that last word in the thickest American accent he could muster, offering a mock salute as he did so. Andre laughed loudly, clearly not offended in the slightest.

"Y'all are crazy, man. I'll see y'all around, try not to drop nothin' else."

He threw up a little peace sign as he left, walking out before stopping on the porch and turning his head back a bit to give them a sideways glance.

"Oh, and y'all should really get some new locks. That lil' ol' deadbolt ain't gonna cut it, this neighborhood can get pretty rasty at night. See ya."

With that, Andre hopped off the porch and walked off. Hachiman's mom, done packing up the utensils, came out of the kitchen.

"Who was that?"

Hachi's dad turned to her.

"Oh, just some boy from the neighborhood, helped us carry the dresser. Seemed like a nice kid."

He looked at Hachiman.

"Maybe you'll see him at school. I see you really were studying up on your English, I could barely keep up with him!"

Hachiman just nodded. What his dad didn't know was that he'd learned a lot of his English through listening to people with a similar accent; when his dad told them they'd be moving to Houston in a few months, he'd started listening to people from the area like Scarface, Lil Flip and SPM to try and get a feel for the lingo. Before he knew it, they'd made their way into his regular rotation. He smiled, thinking of the time Isshiki had grabbed one of his earbuds while he was eating lunch to try and hear what he was listening to, only to be greeted by a chopped and screwed track about stomping out a snitch. Not that she understood the lyrics anyway.

"What are we gonna do for dinner?"

Komachi called out from the living room just as Hachiman's stomach began to grumble. Good question. 20 minutes later, they were all sitting around in the living room, eating pizza and watching some American game show. It was kind of hard to tell what the people were saying, but it didn't matter much. They were all exhausted, and sadly it was a Sunday, meaning he and Komachi had school tomorrow. Even though it was only 8:30 PM, nobody felt like staying up, so after telling their parents goodnight, the two Hikigaya teenagers went off to bed. Just as Hachiman was about to close the door to his bedroom, he heard Komachi quietly call out.

"Hey, nii-chan."

He turned around to see an uncharacteristically worried look on her face.

"How am I gonna make it in school? You're a loner, so you're used to being by yourself-"

"Hey."

Hachiman interrupted, but she continued.

"-but I can barely speak English. They're gonna think I'm weird!"

He sighed, patting her head in an attempt to comfort her. Judging by her expression, it was working.

"You'll get better at it. Besides, you're too adorable for people to think you're weird."

She beamed up at him.

"Thanks, nii-chan. Even if you're a gross siscon, you made me feel better."

Hachiman scowled.

"Yeah, yeah. Go to bed. We can't bike to school tomorrow, we're gonna have to take the bus."

Komachi frowned.

"Oh yeah… we've never had to ride the bus to school. I hope it's nice!"

Hachiman severely doubted it, but nodded.

"Maybe. Goodnight."

"Night, nii-chan."

With that, Hachiman closed the door behind him, not bothering to take his clothes off before collapsing in bed, instantly falling asleep.