I entered my room, sweat dripping from my forehead. Jane is sitting on my bed with Yuki and Lucy on each side, in her hand, a strangely big familiar book is open.

“And in this picture, he is in the shower” Jane said, pointing at the book.

“Ohh…” both girls exclaim.

Oh no! No, no, no. That book is the family album that I kept hiding. It has really embarrassing pictures of me. How did she find it?

“J- Jane! What are you doing” I tried to take the book off her hands.

“I'm just showing them how cute you were” she said with a smile evading all my movements.

I should have burned that album instead of hiding it.

“Yeah, you WERE really cute” Lucy said.

“Why did you say ‘were’ like that?”.

“Yeah, especially in that picture where you are wearing a sailor suit” Yuki added.

Noo! All but the sailor suit picture. Every single piece of dignity left my body. I feel like they just saw me naked.

“Please erase that from your memory”.

“Oh! This picture is when he ran off in the middle of changing his diapers. You can see his cheeks still with baby powder”.

“Why do we even have that picture?!” I finally snatched the family album out of her hands.

After the embarrassment (bullying) I suffered, I went to throw the album outside of my window. After throwing it, Jane looked weirdly calm.

“Well, I guess I will have to take one of the copies I have of that to replace it”.

“Copies?!” Did she really make copies of the family album? How crazy is that?

“You still have to go pick that up though. You are going to get us a fine for littering”.

“Don't worry, I didn’t actually throw it outside. I just threw it on my balcony” I open the door that goes to the balcony and pick up the family album. Now outside I look to the side and realize that the neighbors' balconies… Well, Lucy’s and Yuki’s balconies are weirdly close to mine, like super close. With only a small jump you could reach the other balcony. You could technically step into them.

Maybe because I only moved in recently, or because I never really went to my balcony. But I just realized that you could technically step into the other balconies.

“Hey, do you have your doors to your balconies locked?” I went back inside my room.

“I don't think so. The balcony is in my room, but I never really went there”.

“Certainly. I have never entered my balcony even though it is in my room. But I believe it is not locked”.

“Why this sudden question?”.

“Come with me” we went outside and took a look. It was clear that the girls could easily jump to their respective balconies and enter their apartments. How didn’t I realize this earlier? I feel stupid. If I had thought about it before, they wouldn't have seen those embarrassing pictures.

“I should have thought of it. But anyway, I guess we should leave now” Lucy said.

“Certainly” Yuki added.

“Are you girls leaving already?” Jane asked.

“Yes, sorry for bothering and thank you for having us”.

“But we were about to eat some cake to celebrate Chris' admission to the school. You girls have also been admitted, right? Let's eat some cake together!” Jane happily invited the girls.

The girls look at Jane with troubled expressions. I could understand that. Just as Emmi, Jane had some incredible persuasive skills. Her tone and body language are like vines intertwining in your body, making you do whatever she wants. I myself have felt victim of her persuasiveness many times.

Going back to the girls. I haven’t really made any progress. I haven’t even spoken properly to them. I think we need to have a proper normal conversation so we can get to know each other better. Maybe making them stay for a little bit more will help me get that first step.

“Five more minutes shouldn’t harm anyone. Your parents aren’t still coming home, right?”.

They both look at me in surprise. I guess they didn’t expect me to invite them like this.

“It's decided then!” Jane pulls the girls to the living room.

“Ah- wait-” the girls were already intertwined. There was no way back.

I follow behind them and we reach the living room.

Jane sits the girls on the sofa while she goes to the kitchen. This may be my opportunity.

I sat in front of the girls. Suddenly I feel nervous. I don’t know what to say. How should I start the conversation? The situation is getting awkward. I have to do something, say something. But I don’t know what. My lack of social skills is evident

Looking at my struggle, Yuki decided to break the awkward silence.

“I guess we owe you an apology”.

“Huh?”.

“Earlier, we unjustifiably called you a stalker. But after confirming that you leave here, we now know that you weren't following us”.

“True, although your movements looked suspicious, we should have not jumped to conclusions without a proper investigation. Please accept our apologies”.

“N-no, no, you don’t need to do that… Umm- well it was my fault for hiding like that. It just took me by surprise, and I did something that made you guys suspect me. So don’t worry too much, I understand”.

That took me by surprise. I never expected them to apologize, I even forgot about that incident. Still, they thought about it and decided to give me an apology. I should as well apologize for other things I did.

“S-sorry… for what I said on the day of the entrance exam. I shouldn't have treated you girls like that. Even though we didn't know each other, you gave me some advice before the exam and that helped me a lot. So… well thank you for that too”.

They both looked at me in surprise. I guess that came out of nowhere, but I felt like I had to say it. I think it was needed so we could try and start from scratch.

The three of us stay silent awkwardly. I came and said all of that, but I don’t know how to continue the conversation.

“Cake is ready!” Jane entered the living room carrying plates. Bernard followed her with the cake in his hands.

“L-let me help” I escaped the moment of awkwardness and started to help Jane prepare the table.

“Bernard?” The girls look at him in surprise. Which was understandable, a few hours ago he was the counselor of the school, and now he was here with a cake in his hands.

“Didn’t I tell you that I was a friend of Chris' family?”.

“No, you clearly didn’t”.

“Oh… Well, now you know” he exclaimed happily like it was nothing of importance.

“That explains a lot of things. Starting with the fact that we are neighbors”.

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“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I can see from the few boxes around your apartment that you just recently moved. How did you find this place?” Lucy asked.

“Bernard found it for us”.

He did find a good place. It was near the school and also near Emmi’s middle school. It also has the metro station nearby and the price is relatively cheap. To be honest I thought it was too good to be true, but Bernard somehow found it.

“So did he for us” Yuki said.

“What?” I turn around and look at Bernard.

“Oh! My stomach is hurting. I need to use the restroom” he ran toward the bathroom avoiding me.

“I’m definitely going to kick him when he gets out!”.

We spent the next hour eating cake and having small chit chat. Well, it was more Jane talking all the time, asking the girls questions left and right. They didn’t seem to be bothered by it, so I let the situation be. Of course, Bernard never got out of the bathroom.

“It’s wonderful to meet people from other parts of the world! I never thought I would meet someone from Germany and Japan” Jane was excited.

“Well, we were both born here. Only our parents are from there. To be more precise my dad is” Lucy explained.

“For me is my mom. My dad was born here” Yuki also explained.

“Have you been to your parents' home country?” Emmi asked.

“A few times”.

“We spent some holidays there”.

“How is it?” Emmi's curiosity was overflowing.

After Jane and Emmi squeezed every piece of information they could from the girls, it was time for them to leave.

“I guess, we shouldn’t keep you here any longer. Also, I don’t know how much time Bernard can stay in the bathroom. Thanks for staying a little bit more. Please feel free to come by anytime you want”.

“Yeah, please come back to play with me another day”.

“Thank you for letting us stay at your apartment and for the cake”.

“I'll let Chris handle the rest while I go and have a chat with Bernard”.

He is done.

Anyway, as I go with the girl to my room, Emmi calls the girls.

“Please consider what I told you”.

“Well do” Both of them responded.

“What?”.

I look back and forth between the girls and Emmi. What did that mean? Did Emmi talk to the girls? But when? It must have been when I left the store. I don’t know exactly when Jane arrived, so they could have been by themself for a while. But that’s not important. What concerns me is the content of their conversation. What did Emmi tell the girls?

“What was that about?”.

“It is none of your business”.

Sometimes I think she doesn't respect me as she should. Anyway, she is not telling me, and the girls don't seem like they want to tell me either, so there is no point in pushing the issue.

We arrived at my balcony. Since they are technically one inch apart from each other, the girls can pass easily.

“So, our bedrooms are next to each other” Yuki says.

“That seems to be the case” Lucy starts crossing to her balcony.

As she turns her back to me and starts going over the little fence the balcony has, I catch a glimpse of a white piece of fabric.

“Waa-!” I instantly look away, showing godly reaction time.

“Hmm?” Lucy turns to me “You said something?”.

I turned around to Yuki to see if she saw it too, but she was looking at her apartment.

“N-no, nothing”.

Did Lucy forget she is wearing a skirt? Maybe if she was wearing shorts or something underneath it would be okay to be that careless, but she is not. Although I can imagine Lucy thinking she did put shorts on but totally forgot to do so. Well, it is better for me to just look away like nothing happened. If she finds out I saw. I am flying over the balcony

“Once again. Thank you for everything, and sorry for thinking you were following us” Lucy turns to me after crossing.

“A-as I said, it was my bad for hiding. So don’t worry”.

I cannot face her; that image is still fresh in my mind.

“I see. Well, I will be entering now” she entered her room.

“I should be leaving as well” Yuki said while crossing to her balcony.

Again, she just turned around and started crossing carelessly. Why are these girls so carefree? I instantly looked away.

“I should as well, once again thank you, and apologize for thinking you were a freak, a perv and a stalker”.

Those adjectives were unnecessary. But well, still an apology, I guess.

“If you would excuse me” she said before entering her room.

“Ahh…” I sigh exhausted entering my room.

This day was chaotic. From top to bottom.

“Did they leave?” Jane entered my room.

“Yes, they did”.

“Bernard is about to leave as well”.

“I see. I'll go and say goodbye”.

“First” she grabbed me by the shoulder. I could feel pressure on her grip “Can you explain to me the fact that you brought two girls that I didn't know to the apartment without telling me”.

“-gulp- No, well, you'll see. Something came up…” I entered in a panic. I couldn’t think properly. It was true that I just took the girls in without notifying Jane before. I was careless in that aspect. There is nothing I can do now. I shall face my destiny straight on.

“Hahaha” she burst into laughter. “Relax, you’re too stiff. They already told me what happened. I was just messing with you”.

“I- I see…”.

Not funny for my heart though.

“You did the right thing. Helping those girls out, and I'm proud of you”.

“T-thanks”.

Hearing that small sentence always affects me. I think it affects everyone. To hear your parents or the people you respect say they are proud of you, is something that everyone wants to hear, and everyone should hear.

“They seem like nice people. Are you going to accept them to be your tutors?”.

“Who told you about that?”.

“Bernard”.

“I see...” He can’t keep a thing for himself, can he?

“So? what are you going to do?”.

“I don't know, they haven’t accepted yet”.

“If they do. What are you going to do?”.

“Well, I'll probably go along with it to make Bernard happy. I believe I should at least give it a go. But if it turns out that it doesn’t work, I will drop it and do things by myself. After all, getting good grades is something that I set myself as a personal goal".

“...” Jane stares at me, looking angry and frustrated “You and that way of thinking of yours. Listen here!”.

Her sudden change takes me aback. It's like she just entered parent mode.

“There are things that you cannot overcome by yourself. We will always need help sometimes. I myself needed help when Emmi’s dad left. I need help now to manage a complicated little girl and stubborn teenager”.

I am not that stubborn… I think.

“And I'm sure I will need help in the future too. We, people need help, we depend on each other, that’s how life works”.

Well, she just spit some facts in my face. Although I would like to accomplish my goal by myself, she is right, and I knew it. Deep down I knew that it wouldn’t be enough to just study and not stop by myself. I was trying to show that I could do it, that I needed no help. That I only need me and nothing else. But obviously I was wrong. I have spent almost five years already trying to get better grades and I haven’t made any significant progress.

“Well, that’s enough for today. Just think about it” Janes hits me with the palm of her hand in the back.

“You can talk to me at any time. Remember that” she leaves my room.

I watcher leave my room, thinking of what she just told me. My head hurts a little, I think I am too exhausted to properly think right now. I'll leave that for tomorrow self.

I went to the living room to say goodbye to Bernard.

“Oh, there you are. Here, I brought you something”.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of paper, at the same time a pair of keychains fall out of his pocket.

“What is that?”.

“Hmm” he picks the keychains up. One is a pink keychain with a cat figure and the other one is a light blue with a dog figure.

“Ohh! I completely forgot!”.

“What?”.

“I found these on the floor at my office. I think these belong to the girls”.

What?! Really?! So, they lost their keys at Bernard's office this morning. Well, at least they didn’t drop it on the street or anywhere else where other people could grab it. They can have their keys back now.

“Take care of retrieving them to their owners for me, would you?”.

He puts the keys in my hand.

“Wait, What?!”.

“It's late, so I gotta go, see ya”.

And just like that, he ran away.

I looked at the front door, completely open mouthed. Once again, I was set up. Seeing that there was nothing else I could do, I just held onto the keys and went to my room. I could easily go to their apartments now and give it to them. But I am too tired, mentally speaking.

I lay down on my bed, thinking about everything that had happened. And again, this has been a really chaotic day, from the very beginning.

Jane is right, I can't do this alone, I will definitely need the girl's help if I want to stay at the school. But the possibility of them accepting it is still low. Well, I did make some progress today and I have one week before the first day of school, when they will tell Bernard their answer.

Tomorrow I'll go and give back these keychains. I'll use this as an opportunity to try and make some progress. Now that it seems we have reset our relationship, I can try and make a good impression. Let’s see how much I can do.