Cherry Blossoms

Chapter 3: The Big Move

"Mama!" Mia Sofia Camila Luna calls out to her mother. She was in her tiny room in the house they moved to in Tokyo. She was surrounded by the many moving boxes containing her items, and today was also her first day at her new school. It was three days that they moved from their comfy house in Mexico to the busy city of Tokyo, Japan. It has been three stressful days for Mia Sofia, who hasn't able to finish unpacking everything. She was tiptoeing around her room looking for her cardigan to complete the look of her school uniform in the sea of boxes.

"Ay, mija." Her mother comes in the room, looking disappointed at the state of her daughter's room was in. 

"Mami," Mia begins. "I know it looks bad, but I promise you that I finish unpacking today after school." 

"Promise me, please." Her mother, Lucia Isabella said, moving some boxes from her way. "This looks like a disaster. Why did you call me here, mija?"

Mia motions her toward her uniform and did a little spin, "I need your opinion on my uniform. How does it look on me? And please give your honest opinion, please."

Her mother sighs in disbelief and shook her head, she places her hands on her hips observing her daughter. 

"It looks really nice on you, mija."

"It does?" Mia said, looking down on her uniform. The uniform was not bad as she thought it was going to be. The uniforms were actually sorted of similar to the ones she wore at her school in Mexico. She straightens out her skirt when she spotted her cardigan on the floor under one of the boxes. She pulls it out from under the box and puts it on. Now she was ready to go to school, she grabs her backpack from her bed. She was beginning to walk out when her mother stopped her midway. She places her hands on her shoulders and lowers her view on her.

"Mia," She begins, "Remember all the Japanese your stepfather taught you. We are here to have a better life than the one in Mexico, okay? Be good and don't get trouble."

Mia nods in agreement, and her mother kisses the top of her head letting her go through. Mia walks downstairs where she sees her stepfather sitting down at the kitchen table reading the newspaper. He notices her, and he bows his head slightly acknowledging her presence. She does the same bowing to him before exiting out of the house. 

Mia sighs viewing how big the city of Tokyo was compared to her city of Mante, Tamaulipas in Mexico where it was more of town like than city life. She was in awe of the colorful lights and tall buildings that Tokyo has. The streets were always occupied by people, cars, taxis, and colorful characters. She knew she was far away from home, and she sometimes deeply missing her hometown in Mexico. 

Her biological father left her mother when he found out that she was pregnant with Mia. He didn't want to raise a kid so he left her mother to struggle with raising Mia. She worked many jobs in different areas to give Mia everything she needed. Her mother did not have much help from her parents as they disown her when they found she was pregnant at fifteen. She was all on her own, but she was not alone. She had her daughter by her side. 

It was at one of her jobs that she met Ken Takeuchi, her stepfather. Ken was smitten with her mother at first sight, and he was very keen on taking out on a date. Ken was in Mexico for a business trip, and in his best broken Spanish, he tries to convince her mother out for a date. Even though her mother was not very interested in going out with him, she later changes her mind when he didn't stop to asking her out. 

Lucia was actually annoyed at his constant presence that she thought it was best to leave her job so he would stop asking her out. But at the end, she accepted his request, and a year later her mother was married to Ken Takeuchi. Ken convinced her mother to come and move to Japan with him where she did not have to work anymore, and he would take care of both of them. Lucia was not exactly sold on that since she was so used to providing for themselves, but at the end, she accepted his offer, and now they all lived in Japan. 

Throughout the year that Ken was living in Mexico, he began teaching Mia, the language of Japanese, and he found her a school to go when they move to Japan. Mia was somewhat fluent in Japanese although reading and writing were another challenge. Her mother could understand it but not really good at speaking it. 

Mia learned to live along with her new stepfather although it was a bit of a challenge in the beginning since the language barrier and the culture barrier. She did not mind Ken since he been respectful and kind toward her and Lucia. She did saw that he really did love her mother, and she was happy that her mother found the guy that cares for deeply. 

Ken did warn Mia that she was going to stand out in her new school due her foreigner looks since she did not have any Asian features. She had her Mexican features. This did worry Mia a bit since she knew already that she looked different from them. Her mother told her that she should not worry much about that and concentrate on her studies. Ken taught her about the mannerism of Japan so she did not look like a rude foreigner. 

"Bow to your elderly," Mia repeated to herself, as she walks to her new school. In her mind, she wanted everything goes well. She did not want to stand out much, and she did not want all the attention on her since she dislikes people's eyes on her. She wasn't timid, but she was sort of a private person. She likes to be social with her close friends only, and she likes having a small circle of friends and people. 

Her hands began to drench in sweat when she saw the sign of her new school, and she saw the tall gates protecting and surrounding the school. Students were walking inside the tall gates, and she knew this was it. She wipes the sweat on her skirt, and she took a deep breath to calm down her nerves. She suddenly felt nauseous, but she had to do this. She swallow the nauseous feeling and walk straight into her new school.