Japan
Lost in Translation
Tokyo. Country number two. Tas is ten, his new journal is Hello Kitty (yes you read that mright!), and every sign in the city is written in an alphabet he cannot read.
He has already washed himself in the family bath, which is very much not allowed, run the wrong way in the school relay, and lost a fight with a toilet that has seven buttons.
He is the loudest kid on the quietest train on earth. Then a boy named Kenji sits down next to him at lunch, no invitation, no announcement, exactly the way Tas once sat down for a lonely kid in Abu Dhabi.
The Arabic he worked so hard for is fading, the calls from Arlington keep getting shorter, and a girl from the old compound keeps messaging like the distance is nothing. Tokyo is quiet. People bow, trains stay silent, and friendship starts small. Tas has to learn a new kind of welcome.
The Rules of Cool
Tokyo, Year Two. Tas has cracked the code. He bows at the right depth, slurps at the right volume, and a kid at the ramen counter just said he sounds Japanese. After two countries, Tas is finally, officially, cool.
Cool has rules, though. Rule one: at school, be the kid who draws. Rule two: never mention what is happening at home. Because at home, his big brother is packing for art school in Berlin one box at a time, giving away his manga, his charger, even his mheadphones, and pretending nobody notices. Five Ardens are about to become four.
Between a Kit Kat ranking that now runs to two pages, a karaoke rematch, and a voice that cracks without permission, Tas jokes at school and saves the truth for the journal. Then his brother’s room goes empty, and the joking gets harder.