The following week went by excitingly. Everyday after tennis practice I went to visit Sora. I found it very interesting, sitting and talking with him because our conversations were never dull and we always had something to talk about.

I must admit it, I was glad to have Sora as a friend.

It was after school and I was sitting on his porch sipping a bottle of water while watching him hoe his plot.

Yes, he had his hoe again.

It still surprised me that he was into farming, even now as I watched him I couldn't believe it. He was gentle and kind with a child like playfulness about him. He did not exactly strike me as the farming type but that didn't mean he wasn't good at what he was doing. As I watched him, I was impressed at how fast he worked and how much he had done. This brought a smile to my lips and I leaned over a little so I could get a better view of him.

He had just finished working and he was resting his hand against his hoe and wiping the sweat off his face with the other.

"Fumiko are you alright!?" he called out to me while running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah I'm fine!" I called back. I must admit, he did look sort of sweet as he waved back at me and smiled brightly, the way a child would.

As he was walking over to me I noticed he was breathing heavily. This made me jump off the porch and run to him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just a little tired."

"You should be more careful not to over work yourself." I said placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, I've always been content working like this since I was a child."

"What! since you were a child? Wait...how old are you?" I couldn't help but ask.

"I'm 24." he said leaning forward on his hoe, his breathing suddenly returning to normal and a smile forming on his lips.

"What!? You're 24?"

It was really hard to believe that he was 24, Well he did somewhat look the part, but his gentle, kind and childish personality made it hard to believe.

"I guess I may not seem it." He said laughing and rubbing the back of his head.

The way he laughed was adorable and it made my cheeks burn red.

"Sora" I suddenly said, "That means I am eight years younger than you."

"Yeah that is true." He said tilting his head to the side with his eyes shinning.

He really is different from anyone I've ever met.

"Oh Fumiko, how are things at your school....are you doing well?"

His question snapped me out of my thoughts and I smiled lightly at him.

"Well...." I begun, my mind suddenly drifting back to the day before at school.

***

I was sitting in class, in the middle as I usually did during social studies. I was reading through my text book when something hit me in the back of the head. It was a rolled up piece of paper, and on it someone wrote;

Fumiko, your name is uglio!

I turned to the back of the class irritated so I could see who threw it, but as soon as they saw my irritated face they all started laughing. I glared at them and buried my face back in my text book.

***

"It was...okay." I said obviously lying.

"When I was in school, I didn't have many friends and when I moved away it was even worse because I didn't know anyone." He said Sitting on his porch. I sat beside him and slumped down and hugged my knees.

"It's really hard when you're alone." He continued with a smile mixed with melancholy.

"Sora, did they bother you about your name as well?" I said leaning closer to him.

"No, not really. I went to a Japanese school, so my name passed as being pretty normal but there were a few kids who said I had a girl's name."

I was a little disappointed at this but it only boosted my curiosity.

"They have Japanese schools in the city!" I said enthused about the conversation.

"Yeah" he replied scratching the back of his head.

"Sora, can you tell me what it was like living in the city." I asked suddenly because ever since he told me he lived in the city I had been curious.

"Um...well" he said scratching the side of his head. "It was always busy in the city, people were always moving about their business. It was always fairly noisy and the streets were normally crowded." He said sighing and seemingly staring at the ground.

"Is that why you came back here?"

"Sort of" he said with a saddened smile.

"To tell you the truth I never liked it there. I didn't fit in and I was always lonely.

"It's kind of hard for me to imagine that you were lonely in a busy city." I remarked.

"It hurts the most when you're alone in a crowd. No one sees you, no one cares you exist. Being surrounded by people and realizing I'm invisible made me decide that I would rather be lonely and alone."

As he said these words I saw sadness in his eyes. A deep kind of sadness that shook my heart. Seeing that kind of sadness in his eyes made me realize that he was hurting. I didn't want to see him hurt this way. I didn't want him to be this sad ever again.

"Sora" I said suddenly stirring the silence that had fallen around us. "You don't have to be alone anymore because I am here for you" I said resting a hand on his shoulder.

A small smile appeared on his face. "I guess you have to go now, it's getting late."

"Yes, I know"

"Will you come back again."

"Yes of course. I will be back as always"