15 years ago…

“I’m Mrs. Minatozaki, what’s your name and how old are you, mister?” Sana’s mother said while smiling at the child of one of their neighbors who’s a year older than her daughter, Sana. Meanwhile, Sana was hiding behind her mother while holding onto her skirt and taking small glances at the little boy.

“My name is Yuta and 5 years old,” the boy bowed after telling Mrs. Minatozaki his name. “What a cute name for a cute boy,” Mrs. Minatozaki smiled and tried to introduce her daughter. “This is my daughter, Sana, and we are staying at Mr. Mitsuya’s house. Do you know Mr. Mitsuya, Yuta-kun?” Mrs. Minatozaki asked.

“Yes,” Yuta nodded with a big grin. “He’s my grandfather’s friend.” Yuta looked over at the girl behind Mrs. Minatozaki and asked a question, “Is she the one Grandpa Mitsuya talked about? He told me yesterday that he has a granddaughter around my age coming today.” Yuta kept on trying to look at Sana, but Sana kept on hiding her face.

“I think so, since she’s the only granddaughter of my dad,” Mrs. Minatozaki replied and slowly walked towards their house. “We’ll come out again tomorrow, Yuta-kun. Sana still doesn’t speak that much Japanese since she grew up in South Korea, if you befriend her she won’t be that shy anymore.” Sana’s mother suggested then she felt Sana quickly run inside the house and let out a small chuckle.

“Okay, Mrs. Minatozaki. I’ll be friends with Sana,” Yuta promised while grinning. “I’ll be going to our store now, ma’am. Bye! See you tomorrow~” he said while waving his hand and slowly walking backwards towards one of the streets in their town.

“Bye~” Sana’s mother said then went inside their house. “Aigoo, Sana-ya~” she said in Korean and looked for her daughter. She grinned wider when she saw Sana by the garden and smiling at the trees. “Sana-ya, why didn’t you say ‘hello’ to that oppa earlier?” Sana then fell on her side and covered her face with her small hands. “I can’t speak Japanese that well yet, umma. So I didn’t know what to say to him.” Mrs. Minatozaki was grinning and rubbed Sana