My Time with Him | riki nishimura

いち：new journey

Her eyes scanned the sea of faces as she tried to match them with the image in her phone.

Perhaps it was unfortunate for a visually impaired girl, who had coincidentally forgotten to put in her contacts, to be searching for her guardians in this country.

Just as she was about to call one of the adults, her actions were dismissed when she heard a female voice call out her name.

"Emiko!"

She turned around to be greeted by a couple waving enthusiastically at her. Smiling at them whilst rolling her suitcase, she was relieved to be so warmly welcomed.

Although her mother had explained to her why she thought it would be a great idea for her daughter to stay with the family's close friend rather than with her blood-related relative, she was still skeptical with the idea of staying with strangers.

"You've grown so much." Aunty said as she pulled her into a hug. "Still so beautiful."

"I could say to same to you." Emiko smiled. "It's as if you have not aged at all!" That made the woman very delighted.

She knew what makes older women happy despite it being a white lie. It wasn't like she knew if Aunty looked like she's aged or not (though she did look quite young), but rather the fact the last time she recalled seeing her was a solid 5 years ago during that one Christmas holiday gathering.

"Lets get going shall we? Emiko must be tired after the plane ride." Uncle spoke before insisting on rolling the suitcase for her.

Here she was in Seoul, the heart of South Korea. 

Just an average Japanese girl studying in South Korea.

Emiko Hinode will now embark on a new journey.

The foreign student who was now going to live with her host family, aka, her close Japanese family friends.

10/07/24