[One Year Later]

"Jiro, there's a moving van!" Pets gasped as she walked home from school with her best friend. She turned her head to see the moving van park on the next road that was close by to her house.
Jiro stopped and turned around to see, "Is someone moving into that old house down the road?" he wondered.
"Want to go see?" she asked.
Jiro shook his head, "Let's not bother them."
"Oh okay," Pets nodded before the two of them continued walking home, "Do you want to go the playground?"
Jiro nodded eagerly, "The last one there is a rotten-" Before he could finish, Pets her heel and ran down the road towards the small park that was situated a few minutes away from their home.


"Sam, please don't be sad?" said a woman to her son who sat glumly on the swing.

Pets ran in with Jiro to see the boy whom she did not recognise on the swing set.
"I beat you!" Jiro exclaimed and shot his fist into the air, panting.
"That's not fair," Pets huffed, "You always win."
Jiro stuck out his tongue at her playfully.

"Look Sam, you're not the only kid here," the woman said as she gestured to Pets who was walking in their direction.
"So?" the boy muttered in annoyance.
"You can make a new friend," the woman replied.
"But I want my old friends," the boy, Sam, huffed.
"We can visit them if you want," the woman suggested with a small smile.
"What I want is to go back to our old house," the boy said sadly, "I like the city. All my friends are there," he trailed off into a quieter voice.
"Sam..." the mother sighed.
"Mum, I don't want to be here," the boy announced, standing up and walking away.
The lady just sighed and followed her son out of the playground.

Pets watched them leave curiously and intently.
"Do you think they're the ones who moved into that house?" Jiro asked, popping out from behind her.
Pets jumped in surprise, being pulled out of her intent gaze. "Jiro!" she exclaimed, "You scared me!"
"Really?" Jiro just laughed and Pets nodded. "I'm sorry," he laughed, "Come; I'll push you on the swings."
"Alright, but I want to go really high," Pets replied, "I want to feel like I'm flying."
Jiro nodded and gestured to the swing seat like a gentleman, "Please take a seat, Young Miss," he said in a polite and posh voice.
Pets just laughed and sat down.

Pets closed her eyes and pushed herself off the ground, before feeling herself in the air. "Jiro, push me higher!" And then she went higher.

...

Miss Angel was Pets' teacher that year and she was quite scary. But Pets was a good student and had little interaction with her classmates and teachers anyway so this didn't bother her. Pets was now looking at the teacher from her seat in the back of the classroom. On her desk was a drawing of a boy - Jiro - of which she was trying to perfect. Pets practiced everyday and her sketching had improved, well only her drawing of Jiro because he was the only thing she ever drew. She sighed after glancing at her picture, she wanted to finish it but Miss Angel was making an announcement.

"Today we have a new student joining us," she announced as a small boy came in.
"Hey that's the boy from the playground!" Jiro gasped, shaking Pets' shoulder quickly.
Pets stared at the boy and shrugged, "I guess it is," she muttered apathetically.

"My name is Sam Lin," the boy said.
Immediately, Sunnie and her group of friends were whispering to each other about the new student. Pets lifted her brow as she heard faint giggles rise from their group.
"Please take care of me," he added before bowing a little. His face was blank but he attempted to force a smile onto his face.
"Alright, Classmate Sam, you can choose any empty seat to sit in for the rest of the year," Miss Angel explained, "I'll give you all 15 minutes to get to know our new classmate and then we'll have our spelling test."

Sam wanted a place where he wouldn't be bothered but every seat was taken. His eyes wandered to the back of the room where Pets sat with an empty desk beside her. His eyes then met hers and she looked away instantly and focused on the window. Quickly, he made his way towards her. Pets then turned to watch him after hearing his footsteps. Like a hawk, she eyed him as he got closer to the back row of desks. When she saw him put his hand on Jiro's desk, she cried out, "Stop!" pushing him away when he was about to sit in Jiro's seat.

Sam stumbled backwards and gave her a confused look. "What?" he snapped.
"You can't sit there," Pets exclaimed, "Someone's sitting there already!"
"Don't be stupid, that seat has always been empty," Windie fired.
"Jiro sits there!" Pets retorted loudly before Sunnie laughed.
"Do you mean Weirdo?" she laughed and then her friends laughed. She got up from her seat and slid into Jiro's chair, pushing him onto the floor. Jiro fell onto the floor. Angrily, Pets shot out of her seat and pushed her back, "Don't push him!" she yelled.

Jiro got off from the floor and stood up, "Pets I'm fine," he reassured but Pets was glaring at Sunnie.
Sunnie just gritted her teeth at the young girl before a smirk formed on her face. She then turned around to face the teacher and covered her face, "Miss Angel! Pets is always bullying me!" she cried fakely, "She just suddenly pushed me!" she wailed, "I didn't do anything to her!"
"You liar!" Pets fired back, "You're always bullying me!"
"Pets!" Miss Angel barked, "Go stand outside. I want to have a word with you."
"But that's not fair!" Pets cried, "I didn't do anything!" She then huffed and stormed out of the classroom with Jiro following behind her.

Sam watched before noticing the drawing on Pets' desk. Curiously, he picked it up and stared at it before he became surrounded by all his new classmates who wanted to talk to him.

...

"I can't believe Miss Angel called Genie and punished me by making me take off all the chewing gum from under the desks!" Pets exclaimed, frustrated, as she and Jiro sat on the bench away from her other classmates. The two were sitting outside for lunch.
"That's so gross," Jiro gagged.
"I know!" Pets groaned, "And Sunnie is the one who started it! She pushed you off your chair!"
"Yeah that's really mean," Jiro agreed, "But I'm used to it."
Pets just sighed, "I wish you were real," she mumbled.
"I told you, I'm real if you want me to be," Jiro reminded her with a smile, "I feel like a real person too so why can't I be real?"
"You can be," Pets said firmly, "No, you are real," she corrected.

A small smile then formed on her lips, "I forget that no one can see you except me unless you bring it up," she admitted.
"Do you like it when I bring it up?" Jiro inquired as he looked up at the sky.
Pets shook her head, "It makes me sad."
Jiro shifted his gaze to her, "Why?" he asked.
"Because I feel like one day you'll disappear," she muttered sadly.
Jiro just chuckled.
She shot him a look, "What?"
"I won't be leaving anytime soon," he answered, "You're stuck with me."
Pets' lips curled into a smile, "Then you're stuck with me."
"Oh what a tragedy!" Jiro joked in an exaggerated voice.
The two then laughed.

"Who are you talking to?" a voice came.

Gasping, Pets turned around. Sam stood behind her. "Sam?" she said in confusion, "What are you doing here?" she asked.
Sam just shrugged, "Who's this?" he asked and showed her the drawing of Jiro.
Upon seeing her drawing, Pets' eyes widened and she snatched it from him, standing up instantly. "What are you doing with this?!" she exclaimed, "Don't touch my stuff," she snapped.
Taken aback, Sam crossed his arms, "I was trying to be nice by stopping those girls from ripping it. I'm sorry for trying to be nice," he spat. He then turned around to leave, "It looks really ugly anyway," he muttered before walking away.

Pets scrunched up her face, "Stupid idiot!" she fumed.
Jiro tapped her on the shoulder, "Pets, you should apologise to him," he suggested, watching Sam leave.
"Why?" Pets questioned, "He touched my stuff and was mean when he said my drawing is ugly!"
Jiro smiled faintly at her, "But he was doing a nice thing. I think you overreacted," he said.
Pets just huffed and sat back down.

...


"Hey Wang Da Dong! Come back!" Pets exclaimed as she chased Jiro around in the park after school.
"Surname Lei you can't catch me!" Jiro yelled as he ran away holding a silvery pan.

The two were pretending to be their favourite characters from their favourite comic, 'KO One'. Jiro was pretending to be the character 'Wang Da Dong' whereas Pets was pretending to be the character 'Lei Ting'. Currently, they were playing a game of tag whilst Genie had popped off to buy them a snack.

Pets chased Jiro around several trees and across the patches of green. "Da Dong slow down!" she called out and Jiro turned his head to look back at her as he ran.
He just stuck his tongue out at her and continued to run. Pets huffed and panted as she bent over to catch her breath. When he noticed that she wasn't following him, Jiro slowed down to a stop. "What's wrong Pets?" he called out to her. When she didn't reply, he hurried over to her, worried. She was still bent over, panting. "Pets, are you okay?" he asked softly.
He looked down at her but then suddenly she burst out, "TAG!" and pushed past him.
Jiro's mouth opened wide in shock as he realised that Pets had tricked him. "Hey! No fair!" he exclaimed as he ran after her.

Pets laughed to herself as she ran into the playground without looking back. Quickly, she scurried up the rope ladder into the small tree house part of the play set. When she realised that Jiro would be able to see her there, she slid down the slide and crawled into the tunnel. Whilst she hurried in, she bumped into something or rather someone.

"Hey!" a voice exclaimed.
"Wah!" Pets cried out in surprise as she backed out a little bit. In front of her, inside the tunnel with her, was a familiar boy. "Sam?!" she exclaimed in a hushed whisper.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her.

"Lei Ting!" she heard Jiro call her. "Pets where are you?!"

Once she heard the gate to the playground creak open, she jumped onto Sam and covered his mouth. "SSSSHHHH!!" she exclaimed.
"Hey!" Sam cried out in a muffled voice. The tunnel was quite narrow so as a result, Sam and Pets both hit their heads.
"Ow..." Pets groaned
Sam grabbed her hand and peeled it off his mouth, "What's going on?" he asked her in a quieter voice.
"I'm hiding from Jiro," she explained, slowly crawling out to have a peep of the outside world. She saw Jiro's figure leaving the playground and searching elsewhere. With a grin, she rolled out of the tunnel and followed after him to give him a scare.

Sam watched her curiously, not seeing anyone.

"Pets! Jiro!" Genie exclaimed as she headed towards them with a bag of treats.
Once Pets saw her guardian, she called out to Jiro who wasn't too far away, "Jiro! Genie is here with sweets!" she called and instantly Jiro turned around and came running towards her.
"Yay!" he grinned, "Thanks Genie!"
"Yeah thanks!" Pets beamed as she rummaged through the white plastic bag.
Genie just chuckled as she sat down on the bench with them, "It's no problem," she smiled at them as she had a drink from her water bottle.

Jiro grinned when he unwrapped a chocolate bar and started devouring it. "Oh and I also got you some drinks," Genie spoke up, bringing out two cartons of orange juice.
"Thanks Genie!" Pets and Jiro said simultaneously.
Genie just smiled at them before starting a conversation, "What were you playing today?" she asked.
"We played tag but a KO One version!" Jiro explained.
"Yeah it was so fun! I was Lei Ting and Jiro was Wang Da Dong, but he was so fast so I couldn't catch up to him," Pets added with a big smile.
Genie faintly smiled at her as she was only able to hear Pets, "Did you manage to catch up to him?" she asked.
"She was so sneaky!" Jiro replied.
"Yup!" Pets answered, "I tricked him!"
Genie released a small laugh, "Oh no, Jiro you must have been annoyed."
"I was but it's okay, it was fun," Jiro told her as he sat next to the older woman.
"Jiro, we should play another game when we get home," Pets said, making Genie shake her head.
"Pets you have homework to do," she said and as a result Pets pouted.

Pets just sighed and looked around before her eyes landed on play set in the playground. She then remembered Sam. "Is he still there?" she muttered quietly.
"Is who still there?" Jiro asked.
"Uh, no one," Pets replied with a smile.

She hopped off the bench and turned to Genie, "Genie, I think I left something in the playground. I'll be back quickly," she said and then ran off towards the playground.
Jiro looked at Genie in confusion.

"Sam?" Pets called in a low voice as she looked around the jungle gym. She peeked inside the tunnel and saw Sam still sitting there. "Sam?" she repeated.
Sam sighed, "What do you want?"
Pets looked at him quietly before holding out a lollipop to him, "I want to say sorry," she muttered.
Sam raised an eye brow at her, "Sorry?" he repeated.
"And er... thank you for saving my drawing from Sunnie..." she trailed off, waiting for him to accept her apology and lollipop.
Sam just showed her a small smile and took the lollipop, "It's okay and thanks," he replied.
Pets stared at him quietly, not knowing what to say, "Uh... do you want to be my friend?"
"Friend?" he echoed before sighing before getting interrupted.
"If you're friends with Sunnie then that's okay! Pretend like I never asked!" she laughed nervously.

"Pets?"

Pets then turned around to see Jiro catch up with her.
"Jiro? What are you doing here?" she asked, turning to him.
Curious, Sam poked his head out of the tunnel to see who was around but there was no one. He blinked several times but there really was no one there.
"I came to see where you went," Jiro responded and Pets nodded in understanding.
"I came to find Sam," she told him, turning around and gesturing to the boy in the tunnel who looked up at her in confusion.
"Sam?" Jiro repeated before bending over to see. Once he saw him sitting there, he grinned and waved, "Hello Sam!" he beamed.

Plain confusion was spread across Sam's face that just blinked like an innocent doe. After an awkward silence, Pets realised she had forgotten to introduce him to Jiro. "Ah! Sam, this is my best friend Jiro!" she exclaimed with a smile.
"Uh... where?" he asked, crawling out of the tunnel.
"He's..." Pets trailed off, "...Imaginary..." she mumbled quietly, looking down at her feet.
"Really?" Sam asked with a raised brow. He started waving his hand around, feeling for Jiro. A chuckle escaped his lips, "Since you have no friends, I'll be your first one," he laughed.

Pets' mouth opened wide, "Hey! Jiro is my friend!" she exclaimed.
"Then you don't want me as your friend?" Sam asked her in a teasing tone.
Pets huffed and turned her back to him.
Sam chuckled even more, "I'll be your friend," he said, "Another friend," he corrected with a smile, "Does Jiro want to be friends too?" he asked as she turned back around to look at him.
"Sure, a friend of Pets' is a friend of mine," Jiro answered with a smile.
Pets smiled and nodded at Sam who just showed her a small smile.

The three of them then sat on the swing set together and talked for a long time. They talked about many things such as their likes and dislikes, school, and they shared funny stories. Pets also found out that Sam was the one who moved into the old house near her mansion and she told him about her drawings of Jiro, as well as apologising for pushing him for wanting to sit in Jiro’s seat. They seemed to get along quite well despite their little misunderstanding at the start.

"Hey Sam," Jiro began, "Do you know KO One?" he asked as he swung high up.
Pets then turned to Sam, "Jiro's asking if you know 'KO One'," she told him.
Sam stopped swinging and stared at them seriously, "Do I know KO One?" he echoed before bursting out into a smile, "Do I?! Of course I do! That's my favourite comic book series ever!" he exclaimed with a big smile.
"Really?! Ours too!" Pets replied happily.
"Hey Jiro, my parents bought me a Dragon Tattooed Pan for my birthday but I'm not really a fan of Da Dong, do you want it?" Sam offered with a smile.
"Yes please!" Jiro blurted out, excitedly, "How can anyone not be a fan of Wang Da Dong?!"
"Don't you like Da Dong?" Pets asked, "The Dragon tattooed pan is such a rare collectible item, why don't you want it?"
"Have you read the latest chapter where there's a new character called Zhong Wan Jun? I really like him, he's so cool," Sam explained.
"But Da Dong's cool too!" Jiro defended.
"But Zhong Wan Jun only came in during the last two pages. The next chapter will come out in three months, we don't even know him!" Pets added.
Sam just laughed, "He's really mysterious, I like him more than Da Dong," he admitted, "You two should come to my house after school tomorrow to play and I can give Jiro my dragon tattooed pan."
Pets nodded enthusiastically, "Okay! Thanks alot!"
Jiro nodded in agreement, "Thanks Sam!"
Sam just smiled at them, "You're welcome."

The three of them continued to chat and play on the swings until Sam stopped abruptly.
"What's wrong?" Pets inquired, stopping too whilst Jiro continued to swing.
"How do you see Jiro?" Sam asked, "I want to see him too."
"I just see him," Pets replied, shrugging, "You just have to believe in him."
"Believe?" Sam repeated, staring at the empty swing beside Pets.
"Just believe," repeated Pets, "If you believe, you'll see him."

Sam closed his eyes tightly, trying to imagine the boy he had seen in Pets' drawing and then he opened them. He stared at the empty and unmoving swing intently with a firm gaze, unblinking. Nothing. He stared even harder and then suddenly, he didn't know if it was his eyes or the wind, but he saw the empty swing seat move back and forth ever so slightly as though some invisible being was sitting there.