You walk nervously down the sidewalk back to your house. The sun is starting to get low in the sky, casting long shadows across the street. They seem to obscure all familiar details about your neighborhood and you get a weird sense of vertigo. You hold your hand to your head and slow down your pace so you don't lose balance. You turn your feet inward a little and are relieved to find it much easier to walk this way. Your wooden sandals clack on the pavement, making a sound that stirs feelings of nostalgia...but you can't tell why.
The journey to Amber-- your sist-- YOUR house seems to take a long time. You stop to look around. You peer at the houses and practically have to squint through your migraine before you recognize where you are.
"I went too far! How did I miss it?" Hearing yourself, you suddenly remember that your voice has shot up in pitch. It sounds like it's coming from another person entirely. You try to convince yourself that's okay, for now at least, since it'll help you blend in.
You turn around and start walking again, unconsciously maintaining your new gait, keeping your eyes on each house you pass so you don't lose your place again.
You think back to your voice and decide it might be a good idea to practice talking differently than you normally do. Even if you look like a convincing girl, you worry that your sister knows you well enough to pick up on your manners and habits. You don't know anything about Japanese culture, but you do remember how some of the characters in your sisters' anime behaved, so you can try copying that. You just have to hope she's as ignorant about the real Japan as you, or else she'll know you're just posing.
"Hi... um... Hello. It's nice to meet you." You concentrate on keeping your tone pleasant, and to your own ears it sounds right. Nice and a little formal. If you even bow when she answers the door, she'll never suspect it's you... but you're incredibly nervous anyway. This is the first time you're meeting her, after all. Wait, haven't you met before? Of course you've met Amber. But you don't know all of the friends that she invited. She invited a few who were new to the neighborhood, including you. At least, you hope she thinks she invited you.
You almost walk by her house again, but you recognize it just in time. You comb your dainty fingers through your silky hair, making sure you're fully presentable, then walk up to the door. You instinctively reach for the doorknob, but stop yourself and shift your hand sideways to ring the bell instead. You shut your eyes and focus. This isn't your house. Not tonight, anyway. Tonight you're a visitor and you need to attend this sleep-over.
You tilt your head. Why did you need to do this again?
Before you can dredge up the answer, the door opens and a somewhat familiar blonde girl greets you. You stand straight up, clutching your hands into your chest.
"Hi! Are you here for the slumber party?" she asks with typical teenage American exuberance.
"Y-yes," you say timidly, before remembering what you practiced. You relax your shoulders and bow to her. "It's nice to meet you. My name's Nariko. Thank you for inviting me."
"Of course! You're the new foreign exchange student, right? Welcome to the neighborhood! I'm Amber." You almost flinch when you hear her name, unable to believe you didn't recognize your sister at first. Maybe she's done her hair differently for the party. And she must be in heels, because she looks a little taller than she should. You look at her feet, and are surprised to see she's only wearing socks.
Amber leads you inside. "I love your kimono," she says.
Suddenly reminded of your disguise, you blush. "Oh, th-thank you. It's my mother's... from when she was younger..." You aren't sure why you said that, but you commit it to memory in case anyone else asks. Your own feet feel weird, and you realize you've taken off your sandals. You turn and find them behind you, next to the door.
"Your English is really good," Amber says. "Did you study it in Japan? I can't even tell you have an accent." She means this as a compliment, but you inwardly chastise yourself for not thinking to speak in an accent to better fool her.
You try to slip one into your speech as you say "Oh? That's very kind of you, but I think I still have a rittle bit." Your headache intensifies for a second and you lose focus, accidentally talking in a thicker accent than you wanted, but your sister doesn't seem to notice the shift.
"Oh, well I can barely tell. You've got the grammar down, at least."
You twitch again and remind yourself that you're not supposed to be well-versed in Amber's language or culture. You got lucky with this gir-- your sister, but one of her friends is bound to notice a fake in their midst if you let anything slip. You make a little more small talk with her, being careful to miss a word here and there as you ask her questions. You let her do most of the talking. To your relief, you quickly get the hang of your new accent and don't need to concentrate so much after the first few sentences.
It's going well so far. Amber seems to believe you really are Nariko... which is a strange thing to think, since you ARE Nariko. Then she puts a hand on your back and leads you further into the house. "Let's introduce you to the others..."