• 'Gaijin! Gaijin! Gaijin!' The girls taunted over and over. Yumi was crying in my arms as they taunted both of us over and over, just because neither of us were born in Japan. It didn't exactly help that neither of our fathers were Japanese, either. Yumi was the standout,
    inheriting her father's red hair. I could almost pass, since my father had dark
    brown hair, but the blue colour shining out Asian-shaped eyes were a dead
    giveaway. Neither of us knew our real fathers, but Yumi was especially fragile
    after the torment her step-father put her through.
    'Gaijin! Gaijin! Gaijin!' I hate that word. The way these
    three bitches said it was though we were mongrel half-breeds that don't belong.
    I would have hit them by now, if it wasn't for the fact that there were so many
    adults nearby. I was a bit impulsive and hot tempered back then.
    'Hey!' said Inoue.
    Oh great, I thought, Another full blood to come over and join in.
    I had known only a little of Inoue Kaiya, she mainly kept
    with her family when they came to the club. Usually quiet, I knew both her
    parents were born back in Japan.
    'Oh hi Kaiya, come to join us?' asked one of the girls, a
    smug look on her face. Kaiya looked, deep in thought.
    'Do you know what a 'gaijin' is?' she asked. One of the other
    girls pointed.
    'They are gaijin,' she replied. Boy, I would've liked to wipe
    that smug grin off her face. Kaiya looked in thought again.
    'Nakamura, where were you born?' she finally asked.
    'Osaka,' Nakamura replied, acting proud.
    'And you, Yoshida?'
    'Kyoto, of course,' Yoshida replied, the smug look on her
    face. Boy she was pushing me.
    'Suzuki?'
    'Tokyo,' Suzuki smiled. She was the worst of the trio. Kaiya
    then turned to us.
    'Yumi, where were you born?' She asked, surprisingly nice.
    Hang on... She called them by their family name, but us by
    our given name...
    'W...W...Woolongong,' Yumi managed to get out between sobs.
    'Nene, you?' I looked at her, knowing that she was doing this
    for the benefit of the other three.
    Yes, I thought, rub it in why don't you.
    'Gosford, up on the coast,' I replied, trying to keep an
    even tone. She knew I was angry though, as she turned to the others.
    'And I was born here in Sydney,' She said, stunning me. 'So
    let me see, you three were born in Japan, where as us three were born here in
    Australia, yet you call them, and me, gaijins.' The confusion on the other
    girls' faces was priceless, as was the act Kaiya was putting on. 'We were born
    and raised here. You, on the other hand, moved here. Tell me now: Who are the
    real gaijins.' The girls had a look of real offence on their face as her words
    sunk in, before running off. 'Are you okay?' she asked Yumi.
    'Arigatou,' Yumi smiled, weakly.
    'After all that I just said you thank me in Japanese?' Kaiya
    chided playfully.
    'Thank you.' I was beginning to like the girl. Yumi managed
    to recompose herself when we heard voices.
    'That's the one, mum, she is the one who called us gaijins!'
    It was Suzuki, the ringleader, bringing her mum. Her mum had eyes for me,
    thinking that, yet again, I was causing trouble. 'It was her.' Suzuki's mum
    looked to where she was pointing and saw that it was Kaiya.
    'You the one call my daughter and friends gaijins?' she
    asked, her temper not hidden.
    'Your daughter called my friends gaijins,' Kaiya replied in
    an even yet sweet tone.
    Her friends? We're her friends? I smiled, trying to
    hide it from Mrs Suzuki.
    'I just merely pointed out that due to me and my friends
    being born here, and your daughter and hers having not, that they were in fact
    the real gaijins here.' Mrs Suzuki let the words sink in, then started yelling
    at Suzuki in some Japanese that I couldn't exactly understand. I smiled at the
    pluck of Kaiya, only 8 at the time, talking back to an adult like that and
    actually winning.
    Two things happened after that day. First: Suzuki and her
    clique never picked on us again. They actually began to avoid us, and were super
    nice whenever they had to deal with us. The other: Kaiya no longer spent
    time with her family at the club. She was too busy hanging out with us.