It was hard being a foreign exchange student at such a young age. There was a large language barrier between herself and the other students--they all spoke Japanese, but she only understood American English. Her bright yellow, feathery hair made her stand out among the student body, which often proved to be both beneficial and detrimental. Everybody could easily identify young Alyssa Searrs, but it also meant that she would be the first person to be blamed for any major wrongdoings in the school, no matter how hard she tried to assert her innocence. She had to work extra hard to stay on everyone's good side.

"Miyu?" she said, tugging on the shirt sleeve of the blue-haired girl next to her.

The girl looked back at Alyssa coldly. "What is it, Alyssa?" she asked in a low-pitched monotone.

"Why is everyone staring at us?"

"It appears that these students still do not trust us." She walked down the hallway with Alyssa to her locker and assisted her in breaking the combination lock. "Perhaps it would be wise for us to distribute the confectioneries you father sent to us last week. It might help us earn their favor."

Alyssa smiled. "Oh, you mean the chocolates, right? Good idea. Everyone loves chocolate!"

She reached into the locker and pulled out a bag of teardrop-shaped candies wrapped in various colors of tin foil. "This sure is big," she said. "Do you think there are enough for everyone in the school?"

"Not likely," said Miyu. "If we were to divide this among the entire student body, then everyone would only get half a piece of chocolate."

"You're right. It doesn't seem fair. I wish Daddy had given us more of these."

A male student passed by the duo in the hallway. Miyu took the bag away from Alyssa and tried to get his attention. "Excuse me," she said in slightly accented Japanese.

"Yes?" said the boy.

"Would you like to sample some of our chocolates?" she asked, removing one of the chocolates from the bag. "We hope that you will find them enjoyable."

"Really? You'll let me have one?"

Both girls nodded.

"Thanks!" He took the candy from Miyu's hand and unwrapped the foil, plopping the chocolate in his mouth and walking away.

"See? He liked it," said Alyssa.

"True," said Miyu, "but he only acknowledged us when he saw the candy in my hand. My intention was to get a conversation out of him after he took the candy, but he simply walked away."

"Maybe he had to go to class or something. Let's see what happens if we offer some to one of the girls."

Alyssa watched as Mai, Mikoto and Natsuki came down the hallway from the opposite end. She grabbed the bag of chocolates from Miyu and held it out in front of her. "Hey! Hey!" she called.

Mikoto spotted the bag and stopped dead in her tracks, pulling on both girls' arms to get them to stop, as well. "Hello," she said to Alyssa in her best attempt at English. "What's that?"

"They're called 'chocolate kisses'," said Alyssa. "Would you like some?"

Mikoto nodded happily. "Yes! Yes, please!"

"Take as many as you like."

Mikoto did just that, grabbing a handful of candies from the bag and dividing them among the trio. "Thank you, Alyssa!" she said.

"Y-you're...welcome," the little girl said.

Natsuki examined the tiny foil-wrapped candy with a keen eye. "A 'chocolate kiss', huh?" She unwrapped it and let the chocolate inside melt in her mouth. "Hey, this tastes pretty good."

Mai popped two chocolate kisses into her mouth at the same time. "Yeah. We should ask the guy at the candy shop to sell these," she said. "Thanks, girls."

She opened another one and tossed it into the air, daring Natsuki to catch it without using her hands. Natsuki followed the floating candy with her head tilted back, allowing it to fall right into her mouth. Miyu simply stood back and watched as the other four girls laughed. It wasn't exactly the groundbreaking success she hoped for, but at least those three pairs of eyes were less likely to be fixated on Alyssa. For now, the two of them were safe.

Mikoto looked at the bag again. "Can we have some more, please?" she asked, in Japanese this time.

"Actually, we were going to give these out to the other students," said Miyu.

"We could help you with that."

Mai turned around and waved to the other passing students. "Hey, everybody!" she said to them. "The little blond girl's giving away free candy!"

About a hundred students descended upon Alyssa and Miyu like seagulls, each with their hands out to get a taste of their sweet chocolate. Alyssa hid behind her taller companion while she tried to pry the other students off her. Mai and the others slipped away from the chaos and walked toward the front door of the building as quickly as possible to avoid getting run over.

Once they were out of range, Natsuki pelted Mai with one of her small candy wrappers. "Was that really necessary?" she said.

"I was just trying to help," said Mai. "Besides, any day where we can get free food is a good one."

Neither Natsuki nor Mikoto could argue with that.

"Well, girls, I have to go," Natsuki said as she split off from the main group. "Class is about to start, and my teacher won't allow me to have food. I'll let you have my last chocolate if you want it, Mai. Heads up!"

She lobbed the last of her chocolates in Mai's direction and watched the redhead nearly fall over herself trying to catch it with her mouth. Mai caught it anyway, and smiled at Natsuki as she climbed up the stairs. "Come on, Mikoto," she said. "We'd better get out of here before we become late for class ourselves."

"I'll race you!" said Mikoto, giggling as she ran out the door ahead of Mai.