The music was booming, everyone around her was dancing like it was their last night to live, who knows, it could have been. Lights were flashing as laughter and screams filled the room, it felt like a magic you couldn't feel anywhere else. Of course, to the girl standing in the middle of it all, letting everything go for just that night was the only thing she needed. Tomorrow she would leave this place, and everything in it, she would go to study in America and really try to make something out of herself. But that was tomorrow; tomorrow she would leave this night behind and go to a medical school in South Carolina. Maybe she wouldn't come back here; would that be for the best? Pushing the thought to very back of her mind the girl let her ginger hair fly, and her blue eyes take in everything that was around her, trying to make this night become a memory.

The next morning, as the girl pulled her suitcase through the airport and went through security she tried to forget. She tried to push that night away from her, but once the memories started flowing, so did the tears. Both continued all the way onto the plain and up in the air. She remembered everything about anything she tried to set her mind on. Laughing with her friends, the stress of exams, eating sweets with her sister, eating lunch on the roof of the school, and the party she'd been to last night. Finally, drying her eyes with a napkin and taking a shuddering breath, this girl sternly reminded herself of what an honor it was to be accepted and that she would be able to make more fun memories while she was there. Then the exhaustion of the previous event finally caught up with her, and the girl slept.

Someone was shaking her shoulder; she sighed and blinked her eyes finding them on a flight attendant. "Excuse me ma'am, but would you mind putting away your tray table? We are about to land in America."

She nodded slowly and the attendant continued down the aisle. Finally realizing where she was, the girl jumped to the window and watched the crystal waters of the Atlantic Ocean spread hundreds of feet below her. It was so beautiful, she forgot to be sad and excitedly waited until she could leave the plane. She went over the English phrases she had to say to get to her new home. She had already been given a piece of paper with an American address for her housing, all she had to do was give it to a taxi driver and somebody would meet her at the location with further instructions. Grabbing her bags off the baggage claim and walking outside, she climbed into the next available taxi and watched the airport become a faded dot in the distance.

She was supposedly sharing a house with 2 other nurses, also from Japan, that would be at the same hospital with her, so she knew she wouldn't be alone in this situation. Once the taxi dropped her off, the girl surveyed her surroundings with interest. She already knew, the house was a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom place with all the luxuries and necessities they needed. That didn't matter to her though, what mattered to her was what was around the house, the ocean. She promised herself she would go on the beach behind the house before the end of the day. The girl cautiously proceeded, not exactly knowing how to enter the house, it technically was hers, but she also hadn't really been in it yet. After some unnecessary pondering, she settled for knocking. Brushing her ginger hair professionally behind her ears, she knocked quietly at the door.

After a few seconds, it opened revealing a woman her age, with shining amber eyes and long taupe hair wearing a casual skirt and sweater.

"Hi!" she smiled brightly, "I'm Minami Kotori, but I guess since we're in America now you can just call me Kotori." Stepping aside to let her in the house, the girl looked around until her eyes rested on the third occupant of the house, who was walking out of a bedroom. Her hair was a deep blue and it swept over her shoulders and down her back. Her eyes were the same amber as Kotori's, but had a few darker tones in them.

"Hello, you must be our newest roommate, I'm Sonada Umi, but like Kotori said earlier, you are welcome to just call me Umi."

"Thank you," the girl said smiling at the welcoming friendliness of these two people, "my name is Kousaka Honoka, but you can just refer to me as Honoka."

Stepping further inside the house and settling in. The girl sat down alone in her room. She was lucky, her two other roommates had given her a private room complete with a built in bathroom and beautiful windows facing the ocean. Looking at it she remembered what she needed to do; stepping out through the back door and across the warm sand, the girl reached the waves that were glittering in the last rays of the day's sunset. She approached until the water passed her ankles and then stopped. She felt the most secure here than anywhere else she had been today. The swirling water against her ankles gave her a sense of determination. She was going to do great things; she was going to try hard. The girl took a breath then let it out slowly, then letting go of the rest of the sadness within her Honoka went back into the house, to prepare for the next trial she would face.