Kai finished packing some of his shirts into his suitcase. He secured the locks and grabbed his black backpack. There was a warm smile on his face.

To think, it was the only time he would get to spend time with his father. Being a businessman, his father spent much time away from his family. Kai would finally get to spend some quality time with his father. He hadn’t quite understood why his father wanted to go to Japan to spend his time with him. He figured going to Japan would make his time with his dad extra special.

Kai bade farewell to his pet fish. They were his only companions despite the fact that all they did was swim around. It would be a month before he would see them again.

Kai never really had any friends. Being a gifted child, it was hard to make friends in high school when he was only ten years old. It was torture being referred to as "the rich kid". This made him feel terrible because it made it look like he was worthless and all he had was money because of his father’s job. After a while, Kai got tired of it all and dropped out during the middle of high school.

"Kai!" called Kai’s father. "Are you ready to go to the airport?"

"Almost, I’ll be down in a minute!" he responded.

Kai stuffed some extra clothes into his suitcase and ran down the stairs. With his father, Kai stepped out the door towards the elevator. They descended and walked out the door. Waiting was a black luxury car. They got in the car and sped off.

"So dad, what will we do once we get to Kyoto? I wonder how much it’s changed. It is 2003 after all." said Kai.

"You’ll see." said his father.

They drove for thirty minutes before coming up on the airport. They entered the terminal and proceeded to the baggage check. After loading their luggage they walked towards the gate, boarding passes in hand.

The lady working at the gate checked their passes and allowed them in. They took their seats on the large jet that was supposed to take them from Hong Kong to Kyoto, Japan.

"Remember to study that book on speaking Japanese, Kai." said his father.

" I will, father."

Kai reached into his carry-on bag and pulled out a small book. He opened it and began reading. It was so hard memorizing his Japanese, for he already knew two different languages and he was only fifteen. He spoke Chinese, rudimentary English and now he had to learn Japanese.