I climbed my bike to ride home when I saw Eddy run towards me with his.

    “Hello,” He mounted his bike.

    “Don’t you have to get on the train?”

    “My parents and I agreed that it would be easier to go to your house, then go home afterwards. It’s too far.” Then he muttered under his breath, "They wouldn't have noticed anyways."

    “But me and my parents didn’t agree.” I frowned, and ignored the last part. My parents don’t really like surprises, and the house would probably a mess since Tomi gets there before me.

    “Well, I can help cook.”

    At that I laughed. Yeah, I guess Dad would agree.

    Then his tone was serious, although he still kept a smile on his face.

    “I also don’t think you should be going home alone. Koharu wanted to come with you, but she has to go to cram school.”

    I nodded. She’s very hard working, and would never skip cram school unless she had too. If she’s going to Todai, she has to study hard.

    So we rode our bikes to my house, and when we arrived, my mother and brother were very surprised.

    At first they saw Eddy and said, “Wow you’re early…” But they soon forgot him when they saw my hair.

    “Yuna! What did you do to your hair?” My mother sounded furious.

    My head hung low. “I… I didn’t mean to…”

    Eddy jumped in. “Some girls at school did it. I don’t know why, but they all held her down and cut it.”

    Tomi’s eyes widened. “What? Who did it?” I saw his fists clenching.

    “Eddy…” I said, but I was too late. I didn’t want them to worry. But Eddy wouldn’t understand.

    “Oh, sweetie…” My mother hugged me.

    “What else did they do?” Tomi said. He had spotted the bruises on my knees.

    “Oh my god…” Eddy had just seen it, too.

    “Oh, why did they do this too you?” My mother examined the bruises.

    Eddy huffed and rubbed his eyes. “If I hadn’t said anything…”

    “It’s not your fault, Eddy. They always hated me, anyways.”

    My boyfriend sighed. “Well, I can go start dinner while you take care of Yuna.”

    At that moment they remembered who it was that had come with me.

    “Oh, sorry, you must be Eddy. I’m Tanaka Rika, Yuna’s mother. Nice to meet you.”

    “I’m Tomi. Nice to meet you.”

    “Nice to meet you,” Eddy replied.

    “Um, you don’t have to fix dinner. Uh, Tomi-”

    “Mom, I can take care of myself.” I walked to my room quickly and changed my clothes.

    I took care of my bruises.

    Then I looked in the mirror. What was I going to do with my hair?

    Tomi knocked on my door. “Imoto...”

    “I’ll be out soon.”

    I heard him sigh, and walk away. I didn't want him to be concerned as it wasn't his problem.

    I picked up the comb and tried to fix it.

    I tried.

    But I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t remember ever having my hair so short.

    Holding back tears, I tried using sprays, oils, conditioners, but nothing worked.

    It was a disaster.

    I fell to my knees and sobbed.

    There was a knock on the door. “Yuna?” It was Eddy.

    “I said I’ll be out soon,” I said, trying to sound alright, but I think he heard me crying, because he walked in anyway.

    “What are you doing, I could have been getting dressed.” I choked.

    “But you weren’t. Come on, stand up.” He smiled and helped me up.

    He sighed. “Look at what you did, adding so much. Huh, come here.”

    He grabbed my hand and led me to the bathroom, put my head in the sink, and rinsed all the gunk out of my hair.

    Then, after drying it with a towel, he led me back to my room. I followed helplessly.

    “I’ll do it for  you,” he said, and sat me down at my desk. Grabbing a pair of scissors and the comb, he began to work his magic.

    “Are you a beautician, too?” I joked, although I still held back tears.

    “No, I’m just trying something,” he laughed. “I promise it won’t look too bad.”

    After a few minutes, he was done. “I hope it looks alright…”

    “It’s fine.” I looked up at him with a smile. “Thank you.”

    The smiled faded, and for a moment he only stared in my eyes. I could see the sadness and guilt, even though I told him it wasn’t his fault.

“I just want you to be happy.” He kissed my lips, then gave me a warm hug. “So be happy, okay?”

“Of course,” I leaned my head on his shoulder.

    “Okay, let’s go get dinner ready.” He grabbed my hand and we walked out of the room.

    “I’m home!” My father called.

    “Welcome home!” I called back, and walked over to him. “How was work?”

    My dad only looked confused. Tomi came in and pulled Dad aside.

    Oh, right, my hair. Tomi probably wanted to tell him what happened and save me the trouble.

    Dad walked up to me, gave me a hug and a kiss on the forehead, then said, “I’ll be back in a few.” Then he walked to his room. He had completely missed Eddy, who just walked out of the kitchen.

    “Ah, did I miss him?”

    “Yeah, but don’t worry, he’ll be back.” I said, and took the plates he was holding so I could set the table.

    “How do you remember all of my favorite foods?”

    “I just do. It’s not like it’s a big deal.” I didn’t look back so he wouldn’t see me blushing.

    “I don’t believe you. But that’s okay, because I made sure to cook yours too.”

    I turned around, as I was finished with my task, and I looked at my boyfriend. “But you’re the guest. My favorite foods don’t matter,” I laughed.

    “They matter if you’re my girlfriend!” Eddy hugged me and kissed me on the cheek, making my cheeks burn in embarrassment.

    “Eddy, my parents,” I whispered.

    “Yeah, her parents.” Dad walked in.

    Eddy let me go and walked over to my father. “Hello, I’m Eddy, nice to meet you.”

Dad stared at him coldly.

“And sorry.” Eddy bowed, and we could all tell that he was embarrassed.

 “Is the food ready?” Dad walked into the kitchen, leaving Eddy in his position.

    “Excuse him, he’s weird.” I laughed. “Come on, let’s sit the food on the table.”

    My mother and I sat next to each other. Eddy sat across from us, in between Dad and Tomi. He looked a bit uncomfortable.

    We had American-style hamburgers, and fries with salad and soda. Eddy said it reminded him of home. It wasn’t necessarily his favorite foods in America, but they’re foods he missed. They reminded him of home.

    It was a strange combination with my okonomiyaki, but Eddy made one just for me, since American food is not my thing.

    “Is it good?”

    “Yeah it’s delicious.” I smiled so he could feel more comfortable, but Dad and Tomi’s stares were too intimidating to ignore.

    Dad cleared his throat. “Well, Eddy, how’s school.”

    “School’s great. Um, I’m doing well in all of my classes, and I have plenty of time to do homework since I’m not in any clubs right now.”

    “Why aren’t you doing clubs? I thought you were an athlete.” Tomi pouted in disappointment.

    “I am, but I chose not to do any just yet. I did kendo last year, so that was fun.”

    “Kendo?” Dad was excited, and this waswhen I relaxed. Dad LOOOOVES kendo.

    Pretty much the whole night they talked about kendo. But they also talked about history, which is weird since Dad kind of hates history.

    “Wow, I never thought of it that way.”

    “Wow, really?”

    “Boy, you got some good insight. You really look at things differently.”

    My father was actually interested.

I smiled. Eddy was comfortable here, eating his burger without caring how it made him look, dipping his fries in his ketchup. He was doing just fine.

 Even when everybody was done eating, he stayed to help with dishes when he and Mom engaged in a conversation about cooking.

    “I enjoy cooking Japanese and Korean foods, but I can also cook Mexican food, and I’m also into baking too.”

    My mother would look at me during their conversation like, Wow, he really does know it all.

    After he left, my dad wrapped his arm around my shoulder and asked, “Wherever did you find him?”

    I smiled and looked down the street where Eddy left. “I think he came to me.”

    Dad and I turned around to go back in the apartmentbuliding, and he said, “I really like him.”

    “Me too, Dad.”

While walking into the school gates, a little giddy until I heard Risa and Natsuki right behind me.

“How was your night, you ?” the first taunted.

“I bet you cried yourself to sleep when he rejected you.” the second laughed.

I only rolled my eyes. Then I wondered, Should I have some fun? Or should I tell them the truth?

Only, I didn’t feel like talking to them at all.

So I continued to ignore them when I walked to my cubby.

And my school slippers were gone.

I swore under my breath. What was I supposed to do? I’d probably get a penalty of some kind for wearing my shoes in the building.

But I could here the bullies and their friends sneering at me. “What are you gonna do? Your slippers are gone!”

“Aww, are you gonna cry?”

“The principal will probably give you a penalty!”

So I played it cool. I think.

I sighed. “Shouganai…” I removed my shoes, placed them in my bag, and walked into the school in my socks.

I knew I was going to be stared at, and inquired, but I didn’t want to look hopeless in front of those girls.

I’m going to talk to the Student President about getting new cubbies. I thought. They need locks!

I ignored the giggles and stares I got when I walked into the room. How could people have noticed so quickly? It was my feet after all! Who looks at feet before anything else?! It had to have been planned, because I was sure that people were waiting for me to come in.

I sat at my desk with a heavy sigh and ran my fingers through my hair- my short hair.

I wonder what else is going to happen today.

“Ohayou gozaimasu!” I heard my boyfriend call as he entered the room, and Koharu was behind him smiling.

O

M

G

“Eddy, your hair!” I jumped up.

“What about it?”

“It’s... short!” I was in shock.

“I know, do you like it?” Eddy stood in front of me waiting eagerly for a response as he ran his fingers through his hair.

After a pause, I hugged him tightly, burying my face in his chest. “I love it.” Tears began to form in my eyes.

Koharu laughed. “Yuna, where are your slippers?”

I looked at my friend, but stayed in the warmth of Eddy’s embrace. “Someone stole them.”

Koharu let out a heavy sigh and closed her eyes, shaking her head.

Eddy pulled back. “Well, you can’t walk around like that, you could catch a cold.”

He slid his shoes off, even when I protested, but Koharu said, “Eddy, stop. You already cut your hair, let me do something.”

He laughed. “Okay.”

“Guys, you don’t have to do this…” But they wouldn’t listen, so I was wearing Koharu’s slippers, which were slightly bigger than mine, and Eddy and I wore short hair.

I couldn’t ask for better friends, because they are simply the best.

We were in Japanese class, and I was struggling with some kanji. It took me a lot of thought since the characters we were learning looked so similar.

I could hear Toda Akira, who sat behind me, taunting me.

“You think he loves you, but he doesn’t know who you really are.”

The thought gave me chills.

“Did you tell him about your past, you ?”

I never told anyone about my past. The only people who knew were the kids who went to elementary school with me, and Akira and Koharu were a couple of the few that did.

I tried to focus on my kanji, but I couldn’t ignore Akira. It was too disturbing.

“Yuna… Yuna… you’re a pretty girl.” she whispered.

It was so scary, she almost sounded like… that man.

“You’re very beautiful. Come here Yuna…”

I tried to hold back from screaming. My hands were shaking no matter how I tried to stop them.

“Yuna…”

I could almost hear the train again.

“Yuna…”

I shut my eyes to stop the tears.

“Come with me…”

The smell of beer...

“Hey!”

I jumped, and looked at Koharu. I think she heard Akira the last time.

“Deguchi~san!” Suzuki-Sensei called.

“Excuse me, Sensei, Toda~san was distracting me.” Koharu glared at her.

“Deguchi~san, Toda~san, I want to talk to you two the last five minutes of class.”

“Yes, sensei!” they said in harmony.

“No more distractions, okay?”

“Yes sensei.” The whole class replied. Suzuki-Sensei was strict and intimidating.

Koharu looked at me with sad eyes, and a small smile before looking back at her worksheet.

I looked at Eddy. Even though I could see he was concerned, I don’t think he heard Akira.

I hope he won’t find out. I have to protect him from the past.