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MINA CHEWED HER lip nervously, fidgeting with her seatbelt as the pilot announced take off. She clutched the arms of the seat for support, gritting her teeth to hold back the tears that threatened to fall as she felt the plane lift off the ground.
She watched the large airport become smaller and smaller with distance. She always hated leaving her family behind.
Mina hated leaving Diana, the Parkers, Ned and Matt for Japan and the Hoto-Miyazaki's for America. And while Mina was good at keeping her feelings in check with Diana, as it was only a month she'd be gone, with her family in Japan it was definitely harder for her.
It would be a year before she saw them again and her heart felt like a dead weight in her chest. It pulled her down and forced the tears to slide down her cheeks.
Mina tucked her shorter, lighter hair around her face and leaned down, staring out the window to mask her sadness. Instead of giving in, she focused on the beautiful clouds in the Japanese night sky and the sounds of Beastie Boys in her ears as she settled into the 10 hour flight back to Queens, back to Diana and back to her home.
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"DIANA!" THE TEEN cried, spotting her aunt and her voice attracted the older woman's anxious attention. The two ran towards each other, huge smiles erupting on both their faces as they reached one another and held on tightly.
After a couple minutes, Diana released her niece and looked up at her, gaping at Mina's remarkable change of hair.
"あなたはいつこれをやったのですか?(When did you do this?)" She asked, running her hand through Mina's now shoulder length hairdo and gawking at the teal blue coloring.
"数週間前. がそれを手伝った.(A couple weeks ago. Ko helped with it.)" Mina answered and her aunt nodded mutely, still observing the short colored locks. The teen laughed, giddy at being back with her beloved aunt and hardly holding in her excitement at being reunited with Ned, Peter and Matt. And May, of course.
Finally Diana decided she liked the change and let her hair go, wrapping her hand around Mina's arm and practically dragging her to the car.
Diana plopped Mina's things in the backseat and ushered the teen to the front, pointing happily to the half melted iced mocha that sat in the dinky cup holder.
Mina smiled painfully at her beaming aunt and took a tentative sip of the watered down favorite of hers, grimacing as she tasted nothing but water and chocolate.
