Dear journal, (I always hated writing that. I still do.)

Japan is so compact. Everything is so small, well not like I'm that large either. I finally fit in heightwise around here. Actually, I
think that I'm above the norm, which I'm not used to. I am mostly Japanese you know. Thank god my other nationalites give me
something other than dark brown hair and eyes. I'd die if I didn't have my blue eyes and light brown hair (even though it's not my real
color)!! Talk about uniformity, oi!! Not only have the people shrunk, but so has everything else. Everything, the cars, the houses, the
food portions, the space, and the time, has gone down in size. And I thought they were rushed in New York, and this isn't even Tokyo.
Well, I guess Osaka is a large city too.

I really don't want to be here to tell you the truth. My dad got a four and a half month transfer to Osaka for his buiness, and well it's
kinda the summer before my senoir year, and alot of my friends are going away to college. Anyways, my dad's computer company is
trying to go global, and this is the mainstay of it. Him a bunch of the other heads of the cooperation need to be in Osaka. The only
thing that I don't quite get is why he drug my mom away from her law pratice and me away from my entire social life. Just when
things starting to get better, stupid ex-boyfriend. I just hope the people here are cool, and I certinaly hope there are some hot guys. I
know my priorties aren't really too time effective as far as getting into college are, but I do have a 4.0 gpa as of now. I'd like to
assume that it would take alot to put that down.

I might have said before that everything here is small, but there's one thing I know isn't, and that would be my jet lag, so I better get
to bed before I puke. I hope school goes good tomarrow. I'm used to Spring Break in April, not starting school.

Signed (as always) Shiori Hayami (that is so formal)


***


The sun was already up and peering through the window. It shone on the face of Shiori Hayami. She didn't need an alarm clock this
morning, not when the sun was in the position it was in. She looked over at her alarm clock, it was 7 am.

"At least it's not like waking up for school in the states," she thought. "But I bet it runs alot later."

She got up slowly and stretched. She staggered out of her room and into the bathroom across the hall. She turned the shower on to be
very warm to wake her up. She quickly got in and sat under the warm trickling water. She opened her eyes as she took her shower. She
hopped out after about 10 minuates and went into her little room bathed in the natural glow of the sun. She dried off her long lgiht
brown hair a went to her closet brimming with clothes. She pulled out a black blazer, a black vest, white button-down shirt, and a black
skirt with two pleats in the front, assumingly where her legs are. She opened her top drawer of her dresser and pulled out a pair of knee
high socks and a red tie.

"Could this uniform get anyworse?? It's like a little 5 year old cathloic school girl. Wait, I think it's gotta be navy," she said to herself.

She quickly put on her uniform. The blazer was somewhat fitted, which surprised her. Her skirt was also a reasonable length in her
opnion. Not short, but not below the knee. She sat down at her mirror and put a touch of makeup on, enough to conceal, but not
enough to notice that she was wearing any. She then went downstairs to see her mother had made a rather large breakfast.

"Mom, this isn't a fifty's sitcom, you know that. Staying at home has made you June Cleaver, I swear. You're only missing the dress
and the pearls," Shiori said to her mother when she noticed the spotless house and large breakfast waiting for her.

"Well, Iris keeps the house clean and meals made at home," her mother retorted as some kind of defense.

"But Iris is our maid, that's her job. She's hired for that kind of thing. I think she knew about that when you hired her," Shiori replied.
"As much as I'd like to argue with you, I have a bus to catch. So I'll see you after school."

"Have a good day honey," her mother yelled as Shiori closed the door.

"Great," she tought to herself ", mom being away from her job has made her crack. Or maybe she's making up for all that time. I wasn't
really raised by her, it was Iris that's more of a mother to me, and insted of doing all of that stuff, she was working her butt off as the
d.a.. She never really needed to work, dad makes enough money for us to live great anyways. I guess she just really loves her job."
Shiori stopped to look at her watch and noticed that the bus was coming in 30 seconds if it's on time as it's advertised, and she was
three blocks away. Shiori ran very quickly to catch the bus, which was at the stop waiting for the last few people to get on. Most of
them were kids going to school, but there were also alot of elderly and some young people in suits. She quickly got on the bus and
notived there were no seats.

Shiori pushed her way past all the others standing and manged to find an area with only one person near. She set her bag down and took
a hold of the handrail and waited til the fifth stop. She quickly looked over at the guy she was standing by. He was quite a bit taller than
her. Probably about five foot eleven, edging six feet, which compaired to her five foot four was preety tall. He had this wild blue hair
that hung in his face. She could barely see his eyes, but she thought that they were the same intense blue as his hair. He was thin, but
looked to be naturally built preety well. She looked away as the bus turned the corner.


***


Touma was in his usual standing only position on the bus. He liked it in the back, where very few people normally came to stand. He
pulled out his book and was tentativly reading it. At the stop after his, more people got on to the standing room only space. He also
noticed a girl get on and work her way to the back. He glanced at her over his book so she wouldn't notice. He noticed her light brown
hair with blond streaks that looked like they were growing out. Her hair reached the middle of her back, maybe a little shorter. She was
about five foot four, short next to him. He also noticed her intense blue eyes. Most people with blue eyes you would need to get next
to to tell their shade, but her eyes were a very light blue. He quickly turned his attention back to his book.

"I've never seen her before. She must be new, she looks too old for a first year student. She is extremely pretty. I doubt she'll ever
notice me though, I'm just a shy bookworm in the corner," Touma said to himself while pretending to read.

Shiori looked around to look for all the the students of Am'e High School. She saw a group of girls that looked like they were talking
and staring at her. She glanced at them briefly and they were staring.

The bus rolled to a stop and all of the students got off. The bus dropped them about a block or so from school. Shiori got off and started
to walk to school. The group of girls were walking behind her. Shiori knew that they were behind her. It's that kind of feeling that you
just know someone is on your heels. One of the girls started to walk up to Shiori.

"Hi, I couldn't help but notice that you have the Am'e High School uniform on. This wouldn't be your first year of high school," the
girl asked.

"No, of course not. Do I look that young to you," Shiori retorted.

"Certinly not. If you were , that would have surprised me. By the way, my name is Yukiko. What would yours be??"

"I'm Shiori."

"I have a few friends that would like to meet you. This is Yuri, Eri, and Emiko. Girls, this is Shiori. If you don't mind me asking,
where are you from?? Most japanese don't look too much like you. Unless those are contacts, but I doubt that."

"No, these aren't contacts. Well, I'm from America. I don't know if you know the states, but I'm from nothern California. I'm very
close to San Fransico. My dad transfered here for a few months, and my parents made me go to school."

"That sounds interesting. I must say I've never seen anyone with eyes like yours. They're very pretty."

"Oh, thank you. I was born with very little color in them. That's why they're like this."

The girls looked ahead and entered the main gates of the school. They went to the assembly at the back that was usually given at the
begining of the school year. When the introduction was over, they all headed to their class. Shiori was in Yukiko and Eri's class. While
she might not have known him, she was also in Touma's class as well.


***


The girls all went to lunch at the same time and they sat together with some other people. There was Naoki and Akihiro, who were
together, but as Shiori was told never really got along. The rest of them were Kenichi, Reika, Sohei, Tabo, Ai, Hiro, and Juzo. They
reminded Shiori of her friends back home. They were nice and just really fun lving people. Shiori was introduced to all of them, but
Hiro seemed to like her. He was talking with her about anything. He was really interested about America.

Touma sat in a distance watching Shiori fit in. He sat under a tree with a book and one of his few friends, Satskue. He'd dated Satsuke
after she was friends with Yukiko. Yukiko had spread a rumor around about her that she had forced boyfriend at the time, Juzo, to go out
with her. It was all false, if anything, it was Juzo that forced all of it; to say the least, Yukiko didn't like Satsuke for that. She figured
the best way to get her out was to make all of them hate her. So she spread that rumor. Satsuke had talked to Touma a few times, she
sat in front of him all the time. After losing all her friends she started to talk to Touma more and more. A month later, they were
dating. Although they got along well as friends, they never really made it together. They remained friends through it all.

"Eh, Satsuke, do you think that new girl is pretty??" Touma asked his friend.

"Touma, they have a saying for those people. Sure, they're preety, but there's nothing under all of that. They don't care for anyone but
themsevles, although they look like do. You don't want to end up being with them. One wrong move, and you're kicked out, hard. I
learned the hard way," Satsuke said staring directly at Touma.

"Yeah, I know that. You know I've never really liked any of those girls before. They are all very pretty, but they don't seem
personable-"

"Don't seem, they aren't!! I've seen nicer dust mops!!" Satsuke interrupted.

"Do you mind if I finish??" Satsuke looked at the ground briefly. "As I was saying, they seem like they're hiding something though.
She doesn't look like that. There's something more to her. She looks too innocent to jerk people around."

"What I've learned is that you never know. You can't tell until you've been rudely awoken by a light tap on the shoulder, or a smack on
the ass."

"I guess you're right. I should stay where I am."

"There, finally you said something smart, Mr. Genius."

"Do you think you're funny??"

As Touma and Satsuke talked about Shiori, Hiro was talking with her. If you would to call it talking, most would call it flirting.


***