The Unfamiliar Player | Kei Tsukishima

1 (一): Airport

4/29/2020
(92 Days)

[Name] huffed as she looked at her phone, scrolling through her social media. She was currently in New York, waiting for her plane to arrive so they can depart to Japan. The girl woke up at 3 AM by her mom screeching at her, saying that they will be late to their flight. Which was at 7:30 AM.

"See mom! It's literally 6:54 and we are perfectly fine!" She grumbled and rubbed her eyes. 

"Oh, shush! We had to leave early so that those business people and stuff, don't run us over!" Her mom responded and turned to her husband for back up. 

Looking back at his wife, he sighed. "We are here in one piece! That's the good thing!" He said, trying to lighten the mood.

Clearing his throat, he looked at his wife and daughter. 

"Honey, [Name], as we have already talked. You have to use honorifics and you have to bow to everyone in Japan. I know we practice this already but I just want to remind you both. Especially you, [Name]." Her dad explained, looking at his bilingual daughter. [Name]'s sweat dropped as she looked away, whistling. She wasn't that good with the whole bowing thing, since she forgot. All. The. Time.

"What about mom?" [Name] asked, looking at her dad.

 [Name]'s mom was American and didn't truly understand Japanese, no matter how hard she worked. Thankfully for [Name], she studied and got used to her dad talking to her in only Japanese.

"I..Well.." Her mom stuttered, rubbing her hands together. [Name] suddenly felt sad for calling her mom out like that. 

"Mom, it's okay. I'm sure people in Japan understands English! Dad said that they have a class specifically to understand the language!" She smiled, in which her mom returned.

"We are going to be staying at my brother's house and you'll be able to catch up with your cousin, Tobio." Her dad, reminded and smiled. Both kids played volleyball since 2nd grade and would text each other often about volleyball. The kids got their love for volleyball from their dads.

[Name] looked at her travel bag and smiled. It had her knee pads, her lucky shoes, and all her spandex shorts and tops.

 "[Name]! C'mon, sweetie! Everyone is lining up to board!" Her mom called, as they were making their way to the line. 

"Oh- Coming!"She called after, grabbing her travel bag and running after them.

___

After what felt like eternity, [Name] and her family finally walked out and into the front of the Airport, where Tobio and his family were. They held up a sign that said 'KAGEYAMA'S UNITE!' and [Name] had to stifle a laugh as she saw Tobio looking down, clearly embarrassed.

Her dad smiled and waved at his brother, who gave the sign to his wife and walked up to the family. 

"Kou- kun! It's so nice to see you again!" Her uncle said to his brother who gave him a firm hug. As [Name] and her family walked closer to Tobio and his mom.

She was about to say 'hi' when she almost forgot to bow. Quickly bowing at a 90 degree angle, that startled everyone. She blushed and looked up.