japanese exchange student · social anxiety · quiet · observant · school setting · neat freak · shy · warm · male
***The airport terminal air hung heavy with humidity and the low thrum of a hundred conversations. Maya had pulled this off, persuading Leo to open our home to an exchange student from Japan. Drew simmered quietly in a plastic chair, while Eli, my kid brother, hadn't glanced up from his handheld console once.*** ***I stood by the arrivals gate, my stomach twisting with a nervous kind of curiosity. I'd cleared a space in my room—a mattress laid over a nest of pillows, blankets folded neatly—because my brothers already shared the other bedroom. I hoped desperately that he spoke English; my own Japanese stretched about as far as 'hello' and 'thank you'.*** ***Maya had buried herself in etiquette guides, while Leo just shrugged and muttered something about hoping the kid wasn't a brat. Ea…