She ran the rest of the way home from the bus stop.

She was holding down a job at a bakery in town.

She looked at her watch and kept running.

The time difference between them was enough to create a bit of a problem.

She needed to get home fast.

Tonight was a night in which George and Emi had time to Skype, and she was determined to get as much time as she could with him, even if it was through a laptop.

She entered her front door and slipped off her shoes as fast as she could, which resulted in her slamming into the wall and tripping.

She tossed her shoes at the front door, taking a moment to catch her breath before she called out to her mom and ran to her room, grabbing her laptop and signing into Skype.

She caught her breath only to have it immediately pick up again when the notification that Joji was online.

She stared intently until a little message from him popped up.

'U ready?' It read.

'Always.' She responded.

Then, her heart soared when that familiar tone popped up, signalling a call that she accepted faster than she could blink.

The connection loaded, her camera could be seen and then...

There he was.

It had been a couple months, and strangely enough... He looked older.

Not, insanely old, but he looked older... Mature... Different.

She felt tears rush to her eyes.

"Hey, Emi." His voice was ever so slightly deeper than she remembered, and she covered her mouth.

"Hey, George." She mumbled, a tear slipping down her cheek.

"Awwh, don't cry, Emi! Please, don't." He smiled into the camera.

"すみません。。。" ( Sorry... ) she mumbled, wiping it and scooting closer to the camera.

"How is school?" She inquired.

"Its good!"  he began, in a voice that could only mean that he was genuinely excited about the subject.

Despite what you saw, George actually liked school. He liked learning, even though everything would get to a point where it was stressful and he hated it, he'd always love learning.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah! It's really been great since I got here, My room mates are chill as fuck, they're really great, and they don't mind helping me film some of the Filthy Frank videos, which is awesome. I think after  some more editing, I can make the channel and get this project going-"

Emi listened intently to every word that he was saying, relishing in the sound of his voice.

Her mind began to drift ever so slightly. She loved how much passion he had for what he did and how he'd get really excited, and you could always tell.

She smiled and nodded while listening to him.

"What are you going to call it?" she asked.

He paused and looked confused for a moment.

"Oh, I'm thinking DizastaMusic or something like that, cause I'd like to upload random shit onto it but also maybe some of my music? " he said, looking off to the side in thought.

"That sounds good! Where'd you come up with Dizasta?" she asked.

He shrugged. "It sounds cool." he said, leaning back in his chair and brushing some of his long ebony locks away from his eyes.

"Mm..." she nodded, staring at him.

She looked at him, or rather, the pixles that made him up on the screen, and she just cherished his image.

It seemed that Joji had caught on, doing the same thing in relishing her presence.

The pair stared at one another, taking in as much detail about one another as they could on the small, slightly low quality screen.

They sat in silence like that for a few minutes before Emi smiled.

"What?" George asked, letting out the ghost of a giggle.

"Nothing..." she laughed.

George gave a lopsided smile as Emi looked down.

"So, how's the bake shop?"  he asked.

"It's good... " Emi paused for a moment.

"最近ここで少し嵐がありましたので、ホットココアのために来ているお客様がもう少し増えました..." (  It's been a bit stormy here lately, so we've had a little more customers that come in for hot cocoa... ) she paused to smile.

"私を数週間飼っていたこの小さな老人がいます。彼は私のシフトの最後の数時間の間に毎日来る。" (  There's this one little old man who has kept me company for a few weeks. He comes in every day around the last few hours of my shift. ) she continued.

George couldn't help but feel a little pang in his heart, wishing it were him there. Him walking in during her shift. Him keeping her company on the slow days, him being there for support and a smile or a laugh on a busy day. Him sitting in a warm shop while he admired her as she baked and decorated and arranged the many pastries that she would have created, the ones that he knew she would place delicately in a glass stand for everyone who came in to see, and purchase if they saw fit.

He dreamt of sitting in one of those cozy booths, composing lyrics and music  that were secretly about her.

But he digressed.

He snapped back into the conversation to listen to Emi's story about the man.

"彼の名前は智子です...それは面白いです...彼は面白いです。彼は古くてクレイジーですが、非常にインテリジェントで役立ちます..." (  His name is Tomoko... It's quite funny... He's funny. He's old and crazy, but very intelligent and helpful...  ) she trailed off for a moment.

"賢い人." ( A wise man. ) she nodded before looking back up at the image of George.

"86." her last note was his age.

She stopped for a moment and looked at George, suddenly feeling self conscious.

"Sorry, I'm rambling..." she said, wringing her sleeves.

"No, no, It's okay. I miss your voice." George let out.

"Oh..." she felt a heat go to her cheeks.

"I missed yours, too."

He smiled, but that smile quickly faded away.

"Emi, I need to tell you something, but please don't hate me." he said seriously.

"先に、何が間違っていますか？" ( Go ahead, what's wrong? ) she asked, feeling scared.

George paused as he looked at her.

"私はクリスマスのためにそれを日本に戻すことができません."

Her heart shattered.

( I can't make it back to Japan for Christmas. )

"I don't have the money right now, I'm sorry." he continued.

She bit her lip, looking down.

"Emi, say something, please." George begged, scooting closer to his camera.

She held back her tears.

"It's okay."

"What?"

"It's okay, George."

He knew that it really wasn't, but they had that mental understanding of one another that they understood each others circumstance.

"When do I get to see you next?" she asked.

"Well, I'm going to try really hard to save up so that I can go back out for  summer. I've got one job and I'm close to getting hired for another." he explained.

Emi nodded.

"Speaking of which..." he looked down at the watch on his wrist. "I need to go." he said, sadly.

Emi nodded again.

"We'll speak again soon, alright, sweetheart?" he said softly to the forever pastel coated girl.

"Alright."

"I'll see you later, Emi. Get some sleep." he said.

"George..?" she called out, just above a whisper.

"Yeah?" he responded just as softly.

She looked directly into the camera.

"あなたが行方不明になっていることを言葉で説明することはできません."  ( no words can explain the way I'm missing you. )

George swallowed the lump in his throat.

"I love you, Emi."

"I love you, too."

"Talk to you later."

"Alright."

He offered a sad smile before hanging up the call.

She watched as the window closed.

the tear slipped slowly down her cheek, falling gracefully from her chin, to the laptop beneath her, landing with a crash.

to a human, it was simply a fallen tear.

to an ant, it was a tsunami.

and she...

she was the ant.