"So when clouds form, do they actually look like a shape we think they look like, or are we just projecting our bias' on 'em to make them look like that?" Osaka asked Chiyo.

"Oh, I never thought about that before. It does make alot of sense, I never knew you had thoughts like that." She responded.

"Hey now, I'm not always an airhead!" She said, making both of them laugh. Kaorin ran out from the school in tears, wiping them with her sleeve every few seconds.

"Hey look, it's Kaorin." Osaka said, pointing at the sobbing girl.

"Oh no! Quick Miss Osaka, hurry!" The two ran after her, occasionally falling behind. As she turned a corner, the two girls peeked from out from behind and saw her entering her house.

"What should we do, Miss Osaka?"

"I say we go up and see how she is."

Kaorin entered her house, closing the door with little force. She threw her book bag on the couch and went up to her room to cry. She pulled out an old stuffed animal from under her bed and started to hug it as tears ran down her crest fallen face. She sobbed on her bed for atleast 5 minutes until she heard a knocking on the door. She sat up and wiped her eyes, making her way to the door. She opened it to see Osaka and Chiyo standing there. "Wh-wh-what do you guys n-need?" She asked, holding back tears.

"Miss Osaka saw you crying, and we wanted to make sure you were ok."

"W-well I'm n-not ok." She began to cry again. Chiyo ran up and wrapped her arms around her. "Please don't cry Miss Kaorin! It's going to be ok!" Kaorin collapsed down and put her arms around Chiyo. Osaka blankly stared at them until Chiyo slowly walked away. "What happened?" The 12 year old asked, stepping back to where Osaka was.

"T-Tomo said something t-to Miss Sakaki a-and I'm s-scared she isn't go-g-going to want to spend time with me a-anymore." She started to sob even more than before. "Can we help ya with anythin'?" The Osakan girl asked.

"Th-thank you, b-but that's ok. I-I-I'll get over it." She closed her door and ran back to her room, taking the same form as before.

"Kaori, I'm home!" Her mother hollered as she came in through the door. "And why is it wet out here?" She placed her groceries down on the counter and walked up to her room, finding her curled up and crying.

"Kaori?" She walked closer, beginning to hear her daughter whisper something.

"I know it hurts sometimes but, you'll get over it" Kaorin quietly said, her voice breaking as she did so. Her mother pulled out an ear bud, catching her weeping daughters attention. She rolled her head over to see her mother peering down. Hastily, she sat up and wiped away her tears. "Are you practicing your English?" Her mother asked.

"N-no Mommy, I wasn't."

"What were you saying then."

"I-It's just some just some American music, I know the lyrics to some of the song, that's all."

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Kaorin faced down.

"My friend, Sakaki, the one who's spending the night here, someone told her something... bad about me, and now I'm worried about if she still wants to come over."

"Why don't you send her a message to check?"

"O-ok." She reached onto her bedside table and went to send a message to Sakaki.

Sakaki was doing homework when she heard her phone notification sound go off.

"Hey, do you still

want to hang out

tonight?"

Kaorin waited with her mother, until they saw a message.

"Yeah, of course.

What time is good

for me to be there by?"

"Is 6 good? My mom

wants to cook dinner

for you"

"Yeah, I'll be there for

6."

"Mom? You called me Mommy a few seconds ago!" Her mom teased, making Kaorin giggle.

"Thank you Mommy." Kaorin hugged her mother. "Please don't bring that up around Sakaki, it's different with Chihiro since I've been friends with her for a longer."

"Don't worry, I won't. Can you help me put the groceries away?"

"Sure." They both made their way to the kitchen to put away the groceries.

"Miss Osaka, isn't this Kaorin's street again?" Chiyo asked Osaka, who had been wandering together for about 10 minutes trying to find their way back home.

"Nah, that car wasn't on Kaorin's street, you see." She pointed to Kaorin's mother's car.

"Hmm, let's try following up here and turning left, and walking until we can't go straight anymore, or until we see somewhere familiar." The two walked and made a right, walking straight for about 15 minutes until Chiyo noticed something.

"Is that Yomi?" Chiyo said, pointing towards a tall girl with brown hair. Osaka turned and stared at her.

"Hey, I think that is her! Let's ask for directions." They both ran up behind the girl, saying "Miss Yomi" as they did. The girl turned around and to their suprise, was not Yomi. "Can I help you two girls?" The two stared at her for a few seconds, sweating and turning red. They turned and ran away from her as fast as they could. They stopped at a corner, panting from running.

"Ah, ah, ah ain't never run so fast before."

"Me, me either."

Osaka glanced at her watch. 4:03 pm. "Aw shoot, I'm almost a whole hour late from being home."

"A-a whole hour?" Chiyo's face was drained of color.

"C'mon Chiyo, we have to get movin'!"

"A whole hour... I-I'm going to be in trouble..."

"Why's that?"

"My parents get really worried about me, so they don't like me being out for so long. They're probably really worried about me... I'm probably going to be in alot of trouble when I get home..."

"Don't you worry Chiyo-Chan! We'll figure something out, I promise ya!" Osaka determinedly said. By sheer coincidence, a car pulled up next to them. It was extremely dented and had a plethora of scuff marks on various areas. Chiyo and Osaka glanced at the car, and darted up the street.

"RUN MISS OSAKA! HURRY!"

"AH AM TRYING, CHIYO-CHAN, I PROMISE YA; AH AIN'T SLACKIN'!"

The two hurriedly ran all the way up the street, until they saw a familiar place.

"Look! It's the park!" Chiyo excitedly said.

"Yeah! We're almost home!" They celebrated by prancing around.

"I'll walk with ya to your house, that way if your parents are mad, ah can say I was with ya the whole time, so you had a good amount of protection."

"Yes Miss Osaka! That sounds wonderful!" They pranced to Chiyo-Chan's home together, happy they had found their way back home.