Episode 1

Suzume Yosano

Heading back from school, Suzume Yosano finds out that her parents are traveling to Bangladesh for her dad’s job, and she is being sent to live with her distant uncle in Tokyo.

At age 17, Suzume is leaving the nest a little early. I’ve entered a whole new dimension! I guess I’m supposed to wait outside of the gate. Rrring! Riiing! An incoming phone call.

“Hello, Uncle Yukichi?”

“Hi! Are you already at the station?”

“Yeah, I just arrived.”

“Listen, I’m at work and can’t pick you up right now. I’m very sorry, but could you please go home by yourself?”

“Okay.”

When she starts to walk home, following her uncle’s directions, someone bumps into her.

“Ouch,” she exclaims, bracing herself for the fall, but when she didn’t feel the hard floor, she looks up. “ Huh?” A handsome man with glasses, a weird pom-pom hat, and expensive-looking clothes catches her arm and steadies her.

“Are you okay,” he asks, letting go of her.

“Ah, I’m fine.”

“Uh…those are a lot of bags you’re carrying. They must be heavy. Let me help. Where are you headed?”

“Huh?”

It’s really no problem. So, where are you headed?” He repeats.

“Um…”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got time!”

“It’s quite all right! Thank you!” She replies, running away quickly.

What a creep! The city sure is scary! This is why I didn’t want to move here! Didn’t my parents worry about sending me here? Huh, now where am I?

“Do you know where Yukichi Kumamoto’s home is?” She asks a woman.

“Hmm…I’m afraid I don’t know him.”

She asks two more people, but they dont’t know either. Tokyo. This place is too big! If I was back home, everyone would know.

Because of the hot weather, she needs to sit down on a bench to keep from fainting. Thinking back on it this has happened before. Eight years ago, I had a fever and left school early. I got lost on the way home. Seeing a daytime shooting star, I followed it and was able to reach home safely.

Satsuki Shishio

*Hmph…I was only offering to help her out, but she misunderstood my good intentions. A country girl like her is bound to get into trouble Huh? *He sees Suzume laying down on the bench and rushes over. Just as I thought, and she has a fever! Pfft, her forehead is so round that it’s almost childlike.

Immediately, he looks at her phone and finds Yukichi’s name on her call log. He calls Yukichi, tells him what happened, and carries her to Yukichi’s house.

“Shishio!”

“Huh? Yuki!”

“Is Suzume alright?” He pants.

“I think so. She has a fever though.”

“Okay, can you help me bring her inside, please?” Yukichi begs.

“Sure, no problem!”

Suzume Yosano

Where am I? I think I’m being carried by someone. “Oh, there’s my daytime shooting star,” she mutters and faints.

Waking up, Suzume sees a stranger staring at her with tears in his eyes.

“Thank goodness! You fainted in the playground on the bench near here. I was so shocked! I’m so sorry I left you alone,” the stranger cries and hugs her.

“Um…who are you?”

“Huh? Why, it’s me, your uncle!” He replies with a smile on his face.

“What, really?!? You look nothing like my mom!”

“ I get that a lot.”

“So, was it you who found me?”

“No, that was one of my regular customers-”

“Yuki,” the handsome creep from earlier peeks into the room.

“It’s you!”

“Hehe, yeah. I think you misunderstood me; I was only trying to help you because you looked lost.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I guess.”

“You guess?!? Whatever, I can’t anger a sick person,” he says with a grin on his face.

“Hmph!” She glares at him.

The stranger’s grin falls from his face, and he glares back at her. Their contest lasts for a whole thirty seconds before the stranger looks away.

With a grin on her face, Suzume brags, “Ha, I win!”

“Alright, calm down, both of you! Whatever happened between you two is in the past so get over it! I’m going to finish up dinner. You two better have made up by the time I come back,” Uncle Yukichi reprimands.

He leaves, and five minutes pass without a word said. She’s still mad when she glances over at him until she sees that he looks bad for what he did.

“Hey-,” she starts.

“I’m-,” he says at the same time.

“You can go first,” they both say at the same time and laugh.

“Ladies first,” he grins.

“Wow, what a gentleman,” she says, rolling her eyes, “I just want to say that I didn’t mean to be so rude to you. It’s just that I’m scared of moving from my home so suddenly. Also, when I’m shy and nervous, I’m very rude to people I want to be friends with.” She becomes embarrassed and quickly looks down.

A few seconds pass without him responding. Glancing up at him, Suzume sees a thoughtful look on his handsome face.

“What? Say something! I’m nervous and embarrassed here!” She snaps.

“Oh, sorry! I’m just thinking of what to say…Y’know I’ve never met someone like you before. You’re very…unusual, I think is the right word. I do hope we can be friends though since we’ll be seeing each other more often, Tweetie,” he says with a knowing smile.

“Eh?”

“Have you guys made up yet?” Yukichi pops his head through the open door.

“Yup!” The stranger replies.

“Great! Oh yeah, dinner’s ready now so come out.”

When Suzume enters the kitchen, she almost faints. Before her eyes is the most delicious food ever-seafood!

“Your mom told me that you like seafood.” Uncle Yukichi says.

“Heh! Elaborate as usual, eh, Yuki?” The stranger grins.

“Ooh, I’ve never eaten anything like this! Thank you, Uncle Yukichi!”

“No problem!”

“Oh, this is from me,” the stranger points at the whole banana, “I wanted to buy you cake, but they were sold out.”

Suzume sits down and gulps down the meal. She doesn’t care about the mess it makes.

“Whoa!” The stranger gasps.

“Look at her go!” Uncle Yukichi laughs.

“Thank you for the meal; I love it,” she meets the stranger’s gaze with a blush on her face., “I love the whole banana too.”

The stranger smiles and sits down next to her. He grabs a plate and tries to eat.

“Hey, that’s my portion!” Suzume pouts.

“There’s plenty more so share, guys,” her uncle says.

The next day, Suzume prepares to go to school, wondering about what the stranger said. What did he mean: we’ll be seeing each other more often? What is his name? She was walking through the hallway when she heard a deep, familiar voice talking to her.

“Hey Tweetie,” she turns around, “transfer students report to the faculty room first. Hello, I’m Mr. Shishio, your home room teacher. It’s nice to meet you.”

THE END

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