It was well into the afternoon when my train would finally arrive at the big city that would be my new home. I had managed to calm myself down after reading, and rereading, and rereading again the notebook Yumi must have snuck into my carry-on bag. I also brought another book with me for some light reading as well, but try as I might, I wasn’t able to focus on it as much as I wanted to. I was just filled with a terrible amount of excitement and curiosity now as the endlessly lush landscape slowly changed from organic to concrete.

Bigger and bigger buildings, way bigger than the ones even in Tono City started coming into view more and more often as the train zoomed along the track laid out for my grand future! Even though I knew where my destination was, and was fully capable of seeing myself off at the right station, the train attendant who had stowed away my luggage back when I boarded had come down the aisle and stopped near me, just to let me know anyway. 

I imagine it was probably mom who asked them to.

Well, mom was letting me go so far away, so I can’t really be upset that she wanted me to be as safe as I could until I met with her friend, Saiyuri. As the doors to the train opened, there was a different flood of smells that entered my nose. It was like the big city version of one of those car air-freshener thingies that hang on the rearview mirror or clip to the air conditioning vent. 

Even though I’m from a rural area, it’s not like we didn’t own a car. It was an older model hatchback that was easily twice my age, and was used by dad to make deliveries to restaurants in Tono City and some other places that had contracted fresh produce from our farm early in the morning before they opened for business.

Dad worked hard for our family, that’s why the computer I had at home that he got for me when I was eight was still able to play a few of the newer less graphic intensive modern games, even though I mainly used it to read books online and chat with my author friend whose novel I couldn’t get enough of!

While I might have a bit of an introverted personality, I was by no means a homebody. I just enjoyed being alone with my thoughts at times, and didn’t really think it was a bad thing. I had even tried thinking of a plot for my own story once, but writing is much harder than it looks, and the most I ever wrote in one sitting was a measy eight hundred and eleven words and it took me almost a whole day!

I looked over what I wrote, cringed inside as hard as I could and highlighted and deleted it all at the end. I might have written something a bit naughtier than I should have and felt it was nowhere near the level of quality as what she wrote!

I had never asked her real name, because mom was strict about not revealing my own personal information to people online, so I only knew her by her username, JadeBunny. I wondered if she was the fluffy kind of bunny?   

The Tendo family who lived close to the local equivalent of our village’s one konbini which only opened from seven in the morning until it closed around seven at night, had a small farm. I would often go there with Yumi to help out Saeko-baachan, an old granny who raised small animals. Contrary to what the uninitiated to livestock might believe, rabbits smell. Maybe it was the case for long-haired rabbits that they were fluffy, but the short-haired kind she had were just like petting a short haired cat. But smellier.

It bears repeating, okay? Trust me.

Getting up out of my seat, I followed behind the attendant, disembarking from the train and onto the platform. A few moments later, my roller luggage was removed from the storage on the external compartment and wheeled over to me. I thanked them, taking charge of it, and once I had both pieces of luggage attached to me and made my way towards the interior part of the station, I found that there were more people just passing through here than I’d ever seen gathered in one place back in the village, and that’s even with extra guests and friends invited!

“I’m really here.” I said, taking in a deep breath and then exhaling all the nice clean air that was left in my chest from home when I boarded the train quite a few hours ago. While I didn’t know what Saiyuri looked like now, mom had mentioned that she sent a picture of me to her, so I was supposed to go inside the station and find a seat and wait. She would find me.

It didn’t take too long, when I saw her come into my field of vision.

She was just a bit taller and had a much more adult complexion, thanks to the magic of makeup. Her glossy black hair was still the same length as it was in the photograph I had seen, just put into a single ponytail draped over her left shoulder with a pretty blue-gemmed hair cuff tying it neatly before it poofed out. As she approached me, the first place I really set my eyes on her body were that of her hands.

Those hands that my mom looked so happy to hold.

Were they soft like Yumi’s?

Wait, what am I even thinking?

I shook my head and psyched myself up quickly, ready to meet my new roommate and the adult now responsible for me. Ogata Saiyuri.

As she got closer to me, she picked up her pace. Her eyes were locked on and a huge smile crested her face.

“Kaede? I thought you said you’d be sending your lovely daughter to meet me!” She called out cheerily. “Why did you come instead?”

Kaede? Did she think I was my mom? I don’t see how though, I’m nowhere near as beautiful as she is.

“Um, you are possibly Ogata-san, by chance?” I asked, only slightly intimidated by how adult-like she looked. Even the village aunties didn’t dress up as fancy as she did for something so unimportant as picking up a guest from the train station.

“Eeh? No way! Are you perhaps, Hanabi-chan?” She said, and I caught the feigned shock in her voice. She was messing with me!

“Un. I am Sora Hanabi, Sora Kaede’s daughter. Pleased to finally meet you, Ogata-san.” I properly addressed her and bowed deeply. “From today on I will be in your care.”

“W-what’s with this distance! We’re going to be living together from now on, aren’t we? Please call me Saiyuri, and no honorifics, okay? You can even call me something cuter if you can think of it. I don’t have the easiest name to do that with though.” She gave off a relaxing atmosphere talking with me so casually from the start, so I decided to take that bold step and be casual with her from the start.

“I was just being polite like mom taught me,” Here goes, I thought, “Sacchan!”

“So it’s Sacchan is it?” She put her finger to her temple and hummed. “Alright and you’ll be Hanapi!”

Hanapi?

“Mm. Yup, definitely. Okay Hanapi, shall we load everything into my car and then take you out on a small tour of the city?” She asked, grabbing hold of my roller luggage. “My car is parked outside, have you ever ridden in one?”

Did she think I was a total hick? Well, there were only about six families with cars in our village, so maybe it was a safe guess. I guess mom didn’t tell her everything about us when they talked.

“Yeah, we have an older model hatchback. Dad mostly uses it for morning deliveries though, so I would have to walk to school or ride my bike if I was running late.” I explained, hoisting the carry-on bag over my shoulder and walking beside her as we left the train station.

Parked a little bit away was a red two-door coupe. The trunk of it looked small, and I wondered if even the roller luggage would fit in there. Even though she was from the city, she was far from frail. She easily hoisted it in, and it was something even I couldn’t do!

“Hup!” She said as I put my carry-on bag in the trunk next to it and she shut the trunk door. She pulled out a keychain with a black square and pressed a button. The lights on the car flashed by themselves.

“The door is unlocked, so hop in. Don’t forget to buckle your seatbelt, okay?”

I guess all adults are overprotective when it comes to children. I did know how to buckle my seatbelt! Not that I ever needed to, back home. I remember when I was little just sitting in the rear of the car, what I used to call the back-back seat. I would often travel with mom or dad to go on visits to meet new families who would move here or draw with my crayons in a coloring book, or sometimes just lay back and stare out the wide open window and see the world that I passed behind.

Would it miss me if I was gone?

I opened the door to the car, which required a bit of a tug to do, and sat down in the seat usually reserved for mom or dad. I was riding shotgun as they say, and it felt good. I bucked up and put my hands in my lap as I watched the hustle and bustle of people all around us, as we slowly pulled out of the parking spot and onto the main road.

The most immediate thing was noticing just how many cars there were on the road! Even Tono City didn’t have nearly as many, despite there being so much paved asphalt to drive on.

“So, Hanapi, what would you like to do first? We can go have a quick bite to eat at this wonderful cafe I know, or we can stop off at a phone store and you can pick out a shiny new phone!” She was focusing on the road, and that made me feel safe. I would have been worried if she drove like mom who often looked right at me when talking. Not that mom ever got into any accidents, but sometimes the car veered a little too far off the road for my comfort. Dad could steer the car with his knees, so it was okay if he did it.

While the idea of eating at a cafe sounded good, especially because she said it was a wonderful place, I was already too excited for the phone. It was going to be a mainstay on my person after I received it after all, and eventually contain so many numbers from all the friends I’d make here in the big city when school started up.

“If it’s alright, I’d like to pick out my phone first, Sacchan.”

“Alright, I know just the place, it’s right around the corner and where I got my phone too.” She answered with a smile then flicked the indicator on her car to make an upcoming turn. She drove with the radio off, and there was a comfortable silence between us. When we reached the store, she put the car in park and we got out.

The phone store was small. It was way smaller than the konbini back home, but it had a bunch of displays out in the open where you could see what the model looked like and even hold them. I found a nice looking one that didn’t look like it was too expensive, so I told Saiyuri which one I wanted.

“Wow, what great taste you have, Hanapi!” Her eyes sparkled at me. Okay maybe they didn’t but she had reached into her pocket and pulled out her own phone, presenting it proudly to me. “It’s the same model as I have.”

“But it looks different,” I said, seeing that hers was pink and looked thicker than the one I was holding.

“Oh, this is my protective case, and I also have a screen protector, of course we’ll get the same treatment for yours! Look, there’s a wall over there full of ones. Just pick out something you like that matches the model and the salesperson will handle putting it all together for you.”

Saiyuri was a pro at navigating the phone store, and ten minutes later I had a cute phone. It was a black rubbery case and had little cat ears and a tail that came out of the back and functioned as a kickstand so I could watch videos on niconico in a comfortable position.

She said she learned her lesson when laying down on the bed one day and holding her phone over her head, then accidentally nodding off and dropping it on her face.

I couldn’t help but giggle at the thought of that. She retaliated by poking me in the shoulder a few times. But I had it in my hands at last.  

My new phone!

The first thing that happened after getting it, was to receive a basic explanation from Saiyuri on how to exchange contact info. We did so using some function I didn’t quite get, but was easy enough to do. Then she had me download an app called Line.

“I have it on good authority that all the kids your age use this to chat. You don’t want to be left out of the loop, do you?”

I certainly didn’t!

When the app downloaded and installed itself into my phone, I had to register to use it. We got back into her car, and she drove us to the wonderful cafe that she mentioned while I filled out the details and chose my username...

HaNaPi✩

The nickname that Saiyuri had given me along with a little star symbol next to it. With this, I was now ready for what the world of high school had to offer me! Right now however, the current offering was the experience of a wonderful cafe.

Ice Dreams A play on the words Ice Cream and Dreams. The little cafe lived up to the portmanteau. It had a lively interior with soft colors prevalent everywhere you looked, like mint chocolate chip, and orange sorbet, and even rainbow sprinkles on vanilla!

We were met by the hostess who seated us at a booth with nothing but art all around us consisting of sweet foods. We had a menu, but there were so many things on it, I wasn’t sure what to pick. Saiyuri seemed to pick up on that just by looking at me.

“Do you trust me?”

“I don’t have any reason not to, do I?”

“Then, I know the perfect things to order. Are you a coffee type or a tea type?”

“Coffee is a bit bitter, even with milk, but I can drink it a little. I’m better with tea.” I answered her. I folded the menu and put it down in front of me just in time for our server to come over. Saiyuri took charge and I was curious to think what she would order for us.

“Order confirmed. It will be out in just a few minutes.”

The server was a cute girl wearing a brown apron with ice cream cones and floating scoops of ice cream decorating it. She was probably working here as a part time job while school was still on summer break. Maybe if the opportunity arises I might get one too, but I don’t think it will be anytime soon.

“Now that you’re sitting still where I can see you, I definitely can see your resemblance to Kaede. You both have the same eye shape, and the same nose. Only your lips and frame are different from hers, but not by too much.” She compared me to mom. “But that’s a good thing. If you looked too much like Kaede, it would be tough on me.”

“Huh? Tough on you? Why is that?” She said something that sparked my curiosity. I wanted to know why she was still mom’s friend, but I’d never heard about her until recently.

“Hmm, she really never said anything to you?”

I shook my head rapidly from side to side. “I only ever saw a picture of you the other day. It was one with you and mom dressed up in pretty blue yukatas while holding hands and eating cotton candy.” I explained to her about the picture mom showed me.

“So that was the memory she kept?” Saiyuri asked. She puffed out her cheeks. “She’s just as dishonest as ever!”

Mom was dishonest?

Mom?

My mom?

“Ah, well it’s a bit of a childish matter, and I’m the one who was at fault, probably.”

“What happened?” I had to ask, I wanted to know.

“Does your mom ever talk with you about how things were before she met your dad?” 

“Not really. I only know that she lived in a big city for a while, and then came to visit and well… she got pregnant with me.”

“Haa~h~... Kaede… you dummy!”

Saiyuri looked a bit perturbed. I was going to ask more, but the server had returned with our order.

“One coffee, black with two sugars, and one Lychee Melon flavored Boba tea for the young lady, along with a fudge brownie choco-vanilla parfait with caramel.”

This time my eyes sparkled when I saw it. I heard of Boba tea, but there wasn’t a store that sold them even in Tono City. I’d eaten a parfait before, but nothing incredible like the one on the table before me.

I took the long-handled spoon which was already partway sunk into the parfait and hurriedly took a bite! All sorts of fun flavors danced around my tongue. The brownie was warm and squishy, and it contrasted perfectly with the cold and smooth ice cream and even the stick bit of caramel added to it.

I brought my hand to my cheek as I let the flavors dance upon my tongue and as I held the spoon out, Saiyuri reached for it and pierced the parfait with it, pilfering a healthy portion for herself.

“E~~!!”

I unintentionally voiced my concern. I watched as her mouth opened and closed over the silver colored spoon and the bite disappeared between her full lips, as she pulled the spoon out and dragged the bottom of her lip along the concave of the spoon, cleaning every drop of sweet confection off of it.

“Yum!” She said with her mouth full.

She extended the spoon back out to me, but I couldn’t believe what she just did!

“Oh? You look surprised. Haven’t you shared a parfait with your friends before?” She wondered.

“I have but, n-not with the same s-spoon!”

“Oya? So, I was your first time?” She asked me suggestively. “It tasted sweet, just like Kaede’s first time.”

“Wha!!!!?”

“Kukuku! You are easily flustered aren’t you, Hanapi?”

I reached for the spoon and took it carefully.

This spoon was how I had just had my first indirect kiss stolen… and by a beautiful older woman friend of my mother, too!”

I felt my heart beating fast.

“Did you know your mother and I would often go out to places like this? Kaede was far more womanly than I was at the time, and I loved to watch her eat sweet things. She would often want to try something new and exciting, but didn’t want to eat them alone. So she would always feed me a bite first.” Saiyuri confessed.

“You and mom would feed each other bites of parfait in public?” I asked, not entirely surprised. Mom would spoil dad from time to time, and come to think of it, we taste tested quite a bit of food before she decided to eat it.

“Yup, we’d share a single spoon until the last bite, which went to her, always.” Sayuri said before picking up her cup of coffee blowing on it softly then taking a small sip. “It was one of my favorite things to do with her. I figured you’d be used to it, so I didn’t think you’d mind.”

“I-I don’t mind!” I said perhaps too quickly and high pitched.

“Then, would you like to share this parfait with me, Hanapi?”

I nodded because I was afraid if I opened my mouth, my heart would shoot out of it.

Saiyuri took the spoon back and dug out a nice portion and brought it close to my lips.

I opened my mouth, and carefully accepted the bite.

If it was even possible, it tasted even better than before!

I savored every bit of flavor and also made sure the spoon was cleaned before it left my mouth. She let go however and I took the spoon and nervously dug around for what I thought would be just the right balance of chocolate and vanilla ice cream and warm brownie, then I was going to bring it to her lips, but she leaned forward.

“Ahhhnnn~”

Her mouth opened, and I tried to steady my shaking hand as I delivered the simultaneously cool and warm confection between her lips.

Paku~

She chomped down on it and reached for my wrist, turning it over slightly so the spoon did as well, and it exited her mouth upside down. Afterwards her tongue peeked out slightly and licked her lips.

Then she giggled.

“Thank you for the nostalgia trip, Hanapi.”

“U-un.” I didn’t know what to say, but I was feeling way hotter than the brownie. I quickly reached for my Boba tea and took a few heavy pulls of the thick stuff with tapioca balls and tried to cool down that way.

Time seemed to move so slow, and too fast at the same time for me.

When I went for the last bite, it was already gone, property of Saiyuri now. She had finished the last sip of her coffee, and I was just about done with the Boba tea. I liked the flavor, but suddenly having one of those tapioca balls randomly shoot into your mouth kept me on guard with the strange drink.

But one thing was certain. This little welcoming tour was outrageously fun!

Saiyuri paid the bill and we got up to leave.

“Ready to see what the new digs look like, sport?”

“Digs?”

“Your room.”

“Oh, yes, I’d love to see your place.”

She shook her head.

“You mean our place, don’t you?”

Our place?

“I think we’re going to have a lot of fun together, roomie.”

And just like that, we returned to her car, and sped off to the place I would soon call home.