Dear Mr. Camui

Chapter 3

I woke up to the sounds of Mr. Camui and Dad talking in the kitchen. I slowly sat up in bed, only to see a piece of paper and a singular rose on my desk. I got up, yawned, and walked to my desk. The rose had a note attached to it. In a neat hand, the note had my name on it. I opened the paper. The note read: 'May Hi! Hi! It's Kimi Itachi! I just wanted to know if you wanted to come over today and have a playdate! Bring a doll, if you have one! I have some if you don't have any! My mommy made cookies for you! The good kind, not store brand mix! Home-made! I'm really excited to see you!- Kimiko Itachi!' Kimi put a heart after her signature. Awww. I thought.

"Dad!" I said, loudly. I ran out of my room and bolted down stairs. I tripped on the last step and fell straight on my face. "Good morning, Mr. Camui, Dad." I said, my voice muffled from the carpet being in my mouth. "Good morning, May." Mr. Camui and Dad said in unison. I lifted my head up. I got up and walked into the kitchen. "Have a seat, have some coffee, May. Come join the party. " Dad said. "Hiromi can make a better party than this." Mr. Camui gave us a confused look. "Hiromi. One of her old classmates. Hiromi Shirogane, the girl who drinks Capri-Suns without the straw." "Yup. That's Hiromi for ya." "Hiromi Momoko Shirogane, the girl who sucks the life out of oranges." Dad and I said. "Hiromi sounds, nice. A little strange, but nice." Mr. Camui smiled. "Dad, did you see the letter from Kimi-" "Yup. You can go. She's only three houses down from here. To the right."

"Really? She's that close?" I asked. Dad nodded, "Yeah! She's that close." I opened the fridge and took out the milk. I grabbed a glass and opened the milk. I poured it into the glass. I closed the milk jug and put it back in the fridge. I took a sip from the glass. "So, May, what's Kimi like?" "She calls herself 'kawaii'." I put kawaii in air quotes. "Anything else?" "She has four wild birds." "From outside?" Mr. Camui asked. "Oh yeah. At school, she picks up baby birds and takes them home." "Wow." Dad said, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. I rolled my eyes playfully. "Kimi actually ran over, then knocked on our door so excitedly I thought the door was gonna fall off." Dad said, taking a sip of coffee and opening a newspaper. Dad looked it over, then handed it to Mr. Camui. "What do you expect me to do with this?" "Read it. I don't speak Japanese." "Oh. Ok." I dumped the milk into the sink and put the glass in. "May! Where are you going?" "Upstairs. To change."

"Oh. Ok." Dad said. I ran upstairs. I went into my room and closed the door. I sighed. I took off my shirt and pants. I put on my Nirvana shirt and green jeans. I threw on my new platform shoes, lacing them up and stretching. I opened the door. I walked out and shut my door behind me. I ran downstairs, and tripped on the last step, then fell face-first on the carpet. "You ok, May?" "Yup." I replied. I got up and dusted myself off. "I'm leaving." "Ok. Have fun. Don't get into too much trouble." Mr. Camui said. I rolled my eyes playfully again and walked out. I closed the front door. I felt a blast of warm air spread through my hair to my neck. I turned right and walked to Kimi's house. I hummed on my way there. I stopped three houses down, past the Yamadas, past that weird old cat lady who loves Dad's hair, to the Itachi's house. I knocked on the door.

A lady with black hair and green eyes, circle lenses, I guessed, answered the door. "Hello! Are you Kimi's friend, May?" "Yes, ma'am." She clasped her hands and smiled greatly. "Kimi-chan!" She called. "Yes, Okaa-san?" "May is here! Aimi! Get out here! Look at this beautiful child!!! My name is Riko, Kimi's Okaa!" Aimi stepped out. "Hi! I'm Aimi! I'm Kimi's Mama!!" They both looked at me. I smiled. Kimi walked out. "May! Hi! Hi!" She jumped up and down. " May, come on in! Join the party!" Aimi said, showing me in. I took off my shoes in the genkan, and put on the slippers provided. A nice house, I thought. A little traditional, but still nice. I walked around a little, looking at the cartoony art, obviously painted by Kimi. The paintings were mostly of birds, of course. But, one struck my eye. A painting of me, surrounded in what looked to be sakura. The sticky note read 'WIP', or work in progress. It captured me perfectly. My pale skin, my brown hair and brown eyes, that awkward mark on my neck.

God, is Kimi a good artist. Little did I know, Kimi was following me the entire time. "Boo." She whispered. I jumped and turned. "Did I scare you?" She smiled, her pink hair swishing with her bouncing. I tried to make my eyes follow her bouncing, but my eyes didn't want to. "Stop. Bouncing. Please." I said, bouncing along with her. Kimi stopped, then rocked back and forth on her heels. "May! Come to my room!" Kimi grabbed my hand and ran to her room. When we got there, Kimi pressed play on her phone, and 'Gimme Chocolate!!' by BABYMETAL began to play. "May! Dance with me!" Kimi began to echo the 'rrrrr' type sounds. She grabbed my other hands and began to dance, singing the lyrics when they came on. I looked around Kimi's room. I saw a couple BABYMETAL posters, a L'Arc-en-Ciel poster, and a HYDE poster. Kimi asked me, "May! Why are you looking around? Is there something you need?" "Oh! Nah. Just lookin' around, is all." "Oh. Ok!" Kimi and I kept dancing. 

"You're really good at dancing." I said, blushing. "Oh? I am?" "Yup. You're about as good of a dancer as my dad." "On a scale of 1 to 10?" "My dad's a 12. You, you're about a 11.5." "Really?" I nodded. "Can I change the song?" "Of course!" I let go of Kimi's hands, and walked to her phone. I went onto Kimi's Youtube. I searched my go-to dance song. 'American Pie' by Don McLean began to play. "What's this about?" "Well, you ever heard of The Big Bopper?" "No." "Well, him and some other guys died in a plane crash, so this guy, Don McLean, wrote a song about 'The Day the Music Died', which was the day they died." "Oh. That sounds sad." "It was. But this song isn't." I grabbed Kimi's hands and began to dance. "It's supposed to be upbeat. But you haven't listened to music until you've heard Big Mama Thornton. God, can that woman sing." I smiled, probably looking like I was an idiot. "Kimi-chan! May! Come on down for tea and cookies!" "Yay!" Kimi jumped up and down. She grabbed my hand and ran to the stair well.