CITRUS ~ A Long Way From Home / Trust

Chapter 6

(Author's note: characters will be speaking between Japanese and English)

<<Speaking English>>

"Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Los Angeles. It is now 4:04 am Pacific time. The outside temperature is 59 degrees. On behalf of the flight crew, we want to thank you for flying with us today. As of this time, you may use your mobile devices. We will begin offloading in a few moments once we've reach the terminal. Once again, we want to thank you for flying with us today. And welcome to America."

A long row of people began walking off the plane into a sea of people moving from one end of the terminal to the other. Both Mei and Yuzu were exhausted as they exited the plane, but appeared to be functioning well after Mei suggested getting some rest early. Yuzu couldn't help but look around inside the Los Angeles terminal, which amazed her because it looked more like a shopping mall in the afternoon, rather then an airport before sunrise.

As they begin moving away from the plane, Yuzu places a call to her mother.

"Yes mama, we're okay. Nothing to worry about" she said on the phone. "I'll call you from the hotel after we get settled in, okay?.... Wait, hold on."

She turns to Mei walking beside her. "Mama wants to say hi" she said as she places the phone to Mei's ear.

"Hello mother. We're doing alright. We'll call again soon" says Mei very quickly as Yuzu took it away.

"Okay mama, talk to you later. Love you, bye" she said as she hung up and let out a long sigh.

"Oh man. I didn't wanna tell her how tired I am. She'll only worry" she said.

"You'll feel better once we get to our hotel" said Mei. "No need to tell her everything that you're feeling."

- - - - - - - - - - -

After clearing customs, Mei and Yuzu arrived at luggage claim. Which to Yuzu's surprise was already collected onto a luggage cart and a attendant was assisting them with it.

"Mei? Is this normal here in America?" she asked.

"We were in business class" says Mei. "It's one of the perks we're allowed until we reach our transportation."

Mei began to look around the end of the aisle.

"Which by the way, we should be seeing our driver here somewhere" she said as she looked around.

As Yuzu looked around as well, she saw a man standing at the end, holding a sign with their name on it.

Aihara
藍原

"Hey Mei" she said. "Over there".

"That's him" says Mei as she motioned Yuzu to follow.

As the walked towards the driver, Mei noticed someone standing beside him.

"But I don't recognize that woman" says Mei curiously.

Beside the driver was a tall, beautiful, blonde haired caucasian woman in glasses, wearing a nice pressed business coat and black slacks. She was standing straight with her hands behind her.

"Huh?" said Yuzu. "I thought it was just a driver picking us up."

As they approached the woman, Mei stepped forward.

<<I am Aihara Mei>> she said.

"Ahh" said the woman with a smile and a courtesy bow. <<Kon'nichiwa Aihara-san.>>