A couple days have passed as I mostly remain in bed, unsure what to do otherwise. The family will sometimes come in to check on me and make small talk, but other than that, I remain in solitude. As I lie here each day and continue to ponder my circumstances the more torn I become. I truly am at a loss.

Right now, this home appears to be the safest place, because being discovered by local authorities without a passport is the last thing I need. I doubt they will believe my amnesia, and if they discover who I am… Even if I am a whole ocean away from Japan, no matter where I go, everything will always go full circle… back to the Master. 

But to me, the biggest question is… why has no one come for me yet?

Absentmindedly, I reach over, touching the brand on my arm. Could it be that they think I am dead? If that is the case, then do I have to go back? I shove the idea from my mind. No, I must. It is where I belong. If I do not return, then… What? Wouldn’t they just find a replacement? It’s not like they are short on resources...

Knocking at the door breaks me from my pondering and I sit up. “Come in.”

In walks the twin girls, one carrying a bucket and the other a stack of blank paper. They set the items down on the floor and then start digging through the bucket, pulling out an array of crayons. One comes over to me, I assume to be Jade, and holds up two crayons.

“Green or purple?” she asks. When I don’t answer right away, she presses, “Which do you want?”

“I do not need,” I tell her.

She pauses to stare at the crayons. Then she sets the purple one down next to me and goes back over to her sister. She grabs some paper and brings them to me, setting them on my lap before settling down next to her sister and starts drawing. The other one does not say a word or look up at me. She has been apprehensive of me the entire time, but she still lets Jade drag her into my presence.

“You can draw whatever you want. I’m gonna draw a house with lots of trees and flowers aaand… oh, a pool,” Jade says, digging through the bucket.

“I do not know how to draw,” I mutter, glancing at the blank pages before me.

She laughs. “Me neither.” Then she starts drawing what I think to be trees.

I watch them for a while as they talk amongst themselves, going through several pages of colors and designs. Somehow, watching them calms me and without realizing I find myself forgetting about my previous worries. Before long though, they run out of paper. Jade stands and comes over looking at the papers she gave me.

“You didn’t draw anything,” she says, sticking her bottom lip out.

“I do not draw.” 

“Draw something from Japan! That’s where you’re from right? I heard Mama say something about it. Is it a big city? Is it really far? What does it look like?” she asks, bouncing with each question.

I am at a loss as to which to answer first. “Japan is group of island… across the ocean.”

Her eyes widen. “That’s really far!”

Harmony comes over to stand next to Jade, yet her gaze is still fleeting. “Does everyone there have red eyes?”

Her words strike me, though I know she does not mean any harm. “Only me,” I mutter, shifting my gaze to my hands. “You are afraid?”

She sways back and forth slowly. “A little…”

Her honest response gives me a twinge of guilt.  “I am sorry.”

“But…” she starts, swaying on her toes, “you’re nice so I decided to not be scared anymore.”

Her words leave me speechless.

Jade looks at her and then back at me. “Your name is Shyba, right? I never heard it before. How do you spell it?”

“Ah… I do not know how I write with English,” I tell her.

“How about in Japan style?” she asks.

I am taken aback for a moment. “It is kanji.”

“Write it kanji style!” she says, bouncing up and down.  She is way too amused.

“My name does not have kanji, but I write your name.”

She gasps. “Really? You can do that? Cool!”

“And mine!” Harmony says, bouncing on her toes.

I nod and write their names on separate papers for them. Their eyes are drawn to each stroke I make, until I complete the kanji for “jade.” 

Jade looks at me with confusion. “That looks like Chinese.” 

“Japanese use Chinese… eto, character, too.” Jade seems satisfied with the explanation. “But there is another way to write name in Japanese.”

“Show us, show us!” 

Next, I write Jade’s name in Katakana. 

“Now that is Japanese!” Jade says with pride. 

“I want mine like that and like that!” Harmony says as she points at both the kanji and katakana characters. 

“Okay.” Their fascination amuses me. 

Once I finish, they take the pages with eyes lit up and smiles on their faces. Before I know it, I have written everyone else’s names along with other random words they come up with. Finally, they lose interest and happily gather up the pages. Then I notice Jade eyeing the yen on the desk, where they have remained untouched.

She goes over and picks one up. “What is this?”

“Yen. To buy things,” I mutter.

“It’s money?” Harmony asks, looking at it.

“Yes.”

“Why is there a hole in it? That’s silly,” Jade says as she peers through it. “Can I have it?”

I am about to respond when I hear the door open. “Jade, Harmony! What are you doing in here? He needs to rest,” Kiara says, standing there with the tray in her hands.

Jade drops the coin and comes over, grabbing the papers from the bed. “Look! He wrote our names kanji style!”

Kiara comes in and sets the tray on the desk then kneels with them. “Kanji style?”

The little girl hands Kiara the papers, beaming. “Yeah, look, this one is my name and then… I forgot this one.” She turns the page toward me and points at the character for hoshi. “What is this one?”

“It is ‘star’,” I tell her.

“Right, this one is ‘star’,” she says and goes on to show Kiara the rest of them, having to ask me several times what they are.

“Wow, that’s pretty cool, huh?” Kiara says, giggling, and picks up a page. “This one is mine, right? Can I keep it?”

Jade nods. “Oh, can you spell his name? He said he doesn’t know how to spell it.”

Kiara looks up at me and I glance away, lowering my head a bit. “Hmm, let’s see,” she mutters, picking up the nearest crayon. She takes a blank page and lays it on the ground. “Well, there are a couple ways to spell it, but I would go with this one.”

Then she starts writing it out, sounding out the letters as she does. “S-H-Y-B-A.” She picks it up to show everyone. “What do you think?”

“Mmm, I like it,” Jade says.

Harmony nods. “Yeah, me too.”

They turn to me. “What about you?” Kiara asks.

“It is good,” I say, having no reason not to say otherwise. How would I know the difference?

Kiara stands and turns to the girls. “Okay, time to clean up and let Shyba rest.”

“Aww,” Jade whines.

“Why not take Jeremiah his kanji style name?” Kiara suggests.

Harmony quickly starts gathering everything. “Yeah! Come on!”

With their minds set they quickly clear out of the room. Kiara giggles as they leave then turns back to me. She comes over and hands the paper to me. I hesitantly take it, unsure what to do with it.

“Do you not know how to write English?” she asks.

I shake my head. “I can read few words, but writing… difficult.”

“Um… would you like me to teach you?”

It would be useful seeing how I am stuck here, but why would she be willing to spend time on me like that? 

“I don’t mind, really. We could use some of the girls’ practice books,” she tells me.

Whatever their motive, I still should take this offer. Without a word, I nod, and her resulting smile is exuberant. “Great! Oh, also I would like to show you something after you eat. Meet me downstairs if you feel like it.”

Once she leaves, I can’t get her smile off my mind. Why would something like this make her so happy? If anything, she is wasting her time and effort on someone like me. However, my curiosity piques on what it is she wants me to see. Perhaps I should humor her, seeing as I have nothing else to do anyway.