TPR - Volume 1

1. New Soul

The plane ride to Kanousei, Japan was long, yet peaceful. Passengers consisting of tourists and citizens were occupied with built-in televisions behind each seat, games to play, and books. Luckily, all you could hear was occasional chatter. There were many activities to do, but Zarina mostly stared out of the plane window, watching the clouds and ocean change color as the sun went down. Of course, she did not look directly at the sun. Although a klutz, she knew better. She traveled alone with her guardian, a bilingual Japanese lady named Sheri to give her a brief tour of her destination before she would be dropped off by her exchange family that could not show up at the airport. The two would each softly chat with each other a few times to get to know one another but wanted to take most of the time to relax.

Zarina was a twelve-year-old Arizonan who was short there but will be of average height to her new classmates. She preferred warm clothes, ironically, and not too colorful. The only way she could be spotted in a crowd was by her thick, curly brunette hair that covered her entire back. She recently became fluent in Japanese, but always pauses to process words spoken by others. When she spoke English, she normally had a fast response unless she had a bad breakfast. She hopes to be just as fast in her secondary language soon.

They arrived at the airport at night and before everyone retrieved their baggage from another plane, they exit and walk out to see how the building was a large, white, green, and somewhat pink structure with some indoor plants, trees, and even a water fountain. The atmosphere felt so welcoming and calm. Zarina carefully started on her left foot, knowing this temporary stay in another country would be life-changing.

"Wow," she sighed with joy.

"Welcome to Japan!" Sheri greeted." Your gonna love all the architecture and statues here, I can tell. Not to mention the art, music, and people."

"Um, I've been living in a desert for about three years now. This is a nice change. Hopefully, it's not too humid."

"Oh, it is."

"Darn."

"Let's go get your bags."

The wait was not long. She brought a large purple and pink plaid wheeled backpack with her essentials inside, and a tiny jean backpack that she considers an "adventure bag," with a sketchbook and diary, pens and pencils, scissors, glue, and toilet paper rolls at the moment to occupy herself, but she was afraid of embarrassing herself by performing her peculiar craft hobby with others watching because she was never fond of explaining herself, but that was just what she had to do.

"Only two bags?" Sheri inquired.

"Um, yeah," Zarina replied. "The big one has everything I might need and the little one just has arts and crafts in it for now."

"Oh, yeah. You're an artist, huh?"

"I guess. I, um, made something for you as thanks--"

A piercing scream cut through their conversation like a knife, echoing through the expansive baggage claim area. The high-pitched sound reverberates through Zarina's ears before a chorus of others joined in. She whips her head around as other visitors sprint away in a panic, luggage whipping behind them. All of a sudden, there's a loud boom that erupts nearby. The building shakes with the impact and Zarina loses her grip on the wall, tumbling to the ground. There's a sharp, painful ringing echoing in her ears, drowning all the other sounds out.

Time passes by slowly. Her movements are delayed and all her thoughts just seemed to... vanish. She feels a gentle hand on her shoulder and opens her eyes slowly to see Sheri facing her, bent down to her eye level. Her brow furrows as her eyes search back and forth over Zarina's face, concerned. It's weird how her mouth jabbers on, but there's no sound coming out of it. Zarina shakes her head, trying to get rid of the excessive ringing, and lets Sheri pull her up to her feet. Led by a hand hooked to her elbow, she leads Zarina over to a nearby bench and gently pushes her down to the ground. Crouched under the wooden planks, Zarina slowly regains her senses as the muted yells slowly come back.