It had been about a year since Kato had become friends with Amelia and Melinda, though he was still shy around both of them. He did finally get the courage to tell his parents that he wants getting picked on for his bowl cut. Much to his surprise – and relief – they took it well and let him get a different hair cut after that.

Amelia saw him often to stick to the deal they made during their first meeting. He taught her Japanese in exchange for her teaching him self-defense and protecting him in school. It wasn't all work and no play, though. Amy and Melinda often spent time with the boy, forming what would become a tight-knit friendship.

The three of them went to Kato's house after school today to play together, but Mother Nature had other ideas. Melinda pouted as she pressed her face against the window, watching the rain as it pelted the Earth below.

"Aw, I wanted to play hopscotch," she whined.

There was a short silence before Kato suggested, "We could play a game on the computer."

The girls smiled excitedly at the idea as they followed him to the family computer in another room. Kato dragged two chairs over to the desk before sitting in the middle and powering it on. He opened the game and explained the mechanics. It was a simple side scrolling game, but the trio spent an hour playing it.

Amelia pouted as the screen went black. "Aw, that's it?"

"For now," Kato told her as he exited out of the game. "I want to add a bunch more levels, maybe an underwater one if I can figure it out."

Melinda jumped up from her seat. "Wow, you made that?!"

He smiled nervously and nodded.

"That's so cool! Can you teach us?" Amy asked.

"Sure." He clicked around to another program, showing them the code that ran the game.

The boy explained each of the commands and how they all need to be organized. Melinda quickly became lost in the technical jargon, but Amelia was wide-eyed as she absorbed every word like a sponge.

She started cutting down the time he used to teach her Japanese, substituting it with lessons in programming. It didn't take long before the brunette caught up with Kato's skill level, but she found that making games wasn't as satisfying as playing them. Her friend explained that there are lots of other uses for coding before showing her the wonders of CSS, HTML, and Java.

As he expected, she was quick to master these as well. Amy started neglecting her schoolwork in favor of reading through coding manuals. It was in one of those manuals that she discovered how computer security worked. She found herself obsessing over the minutia of the field – it was the ultimate puzzle.

Little did she realize what this knowledge would be setting her up for in the future.