Closed Meeting New Friends

[Daiki Saito]

Daiki had only just moved to New Zealand, he didn't quite understand what that meant. Just that they'd moved all of the stuff to a fancy but different house and dad was working somewhere new. He was very confused by his mum had brought him to the park. He knew that this would be fun. The swings looked good and he rushed towards the swings and settled down on it. His mother offered to push him, but he replied, "I got it, mum!" he spoke in broken english trying his best to keep it up. He then began trying his best to do as he was supposed to though he wasn't quite managing it.​

 

[Kairi Kennedy]

Kairi often wondered alone. She didn't remember her family, not really, but the orphanage was okay. She hummed happily as she skipped to the park. She'd learned to try and focus on the bright side of things. Today, the skies were clear, and she was going to play at the park. She spotted a new boy over on the swings and she skipped over to him, smiling almost shyly. "Hii," She greeted, hoping that the tooth she'd lost yesterday didn't make her smile look too funny. "Can I swing with you?" She asked him.

 

[Daiki Saito]

Daiki was managing, slowly. It had been a bit of a rocky start to swinging but he was doing okay now. He was enjoying it too, it was calming and felt nice. He glanced as a girl approached and asked if she could swing too. Daiki nodded, giving himself a moment to think up what he should say. "Yes, of course," was his slightly stilted and accented reply. His english was getting there, but he just needed a little longer to figure it out and he was sure that it would take more than a couple of weeks before his accent faded. "I'm Daiki,"​

 

[Kairi Kennedy]

Kairi smiled brightly, skipping over and sitting on the swings herself. "I'm Kairi," She told him, swinging her feet a bit. "Your voice is funny... did you live somewhere else?" She asked him, tilting her head a bit. "You're cute," She announced after a moment, smiling brightly.

 

[Daiki Saito]

Daiki nodded at her name which close to his, Kairi. ”I lived in Japan,” he replied, picking his words carefully again. ”But now I live here with my parents” he added motioning to where his mother was. He tilted his head a little at her announcement and then just smile. ”You’re cute too Kairi” he replied, returning the nice statement. ”Are you any good at the swings?” ​

 

[Kairi Kennedy]

Kairi's eyes lit up with interest as he spoke about where he was from. "Ooh, really?" She asked him. "I saw Japan on television once, it looked really pretty!" She told him. "What was it like?" She questioned, swinging only a little bit. When he asked about how she was on the swings, she lit up again. "Ooh, yes!" She started swinging more seriously, tucking her legs under her and throwing them back out again, propelling her into a higher swing arc.

 

[Daiki Saito]

Daiki nodded to assure her he wasn't lying about where he was from. He had never seen a television, at least not in person so he didn't know if it was pretty on a television but he thought it was nice in person. "It is different," he replied. "I miss it, but this is my home now," he said very reasonably. He didn't know how long they'd be in New Zealand but until they left it was his home. There were of course bigger things for them to deal with, like swinging. He watched as Kairi managed to get herself into a high swing arc much quicker than he had. "Wow," he said in awe. ​

 

[Kairi Kennedy]

Kairi dragged her feet in the gravel to stop herself, smiling at her. "It's easy! Just use your legs." She told him. "Throw them out when you're swinging up, then tuck them under you when you swing back," She told him, swinging herself to show him the techniques she used. "You can swing as much as you want, to go higher and higher!" She giggled, swinging almost as high as the top of the swing set, squealing in delight as she did.

 

[Daiki Saito]

Daiki was watching Kairi as she showed him how to do it. Showing and telling him. He tried to follow along but he didn't quite immediately get it, with some effort and attempts he was able to start going back and forth more purposefully but it wasn't particularly good. He just eventually got enough swing that it became more natural. He wasn't as high as she was, but he was gaining slowly the height. "I think I've got it," he told her with a somewhat unsure tone. ​

 

[Kairi Kennedy]

Kairi dragged her feet a bit again, reducing her height and smiling at him. "You're doing great!" She told him, smiling brightly. "You'll be the best at swinging in no time!" She giggled, swinging gently. "Is swinging your favorite thing ever?" She asked. "I can never decide between swinging and the slides," She admitted easily.

 

[Daiki Saito]

Daiki smiled at her at the compliment. He felt good about how he was doing, better than he had in the moments before. "I doubt I'll be the best, you have that sorted," he told her with a smile, mostly it was clear he was quite happy that he was swinging quite well. "I like climbing frames, and climbing walls," he told her, he wasn't sure it was his favourite, but he liked those lot. But a swing was a much chiller thing to be on. ​

 

[Kairi Kennedy]

Kairi giggled, her eyes lighting up at his words. She jumped off the swingset and offered out her hand. "It's not really the same but we could go on the monkey bars?" She offered, smiling softly. "It could be fun!" She told him easily.

 

[Daiki Saito]

Daiki watched as she jumped off the swing set. He came to a much more controlled stop, stopping the swinging motion he was doing and using his feet slow himself off until he could just get up. He took her hand and nodded. "It will be fun," he agreed knowing that it definitely would be good fun. It wasn't quite a climbing wall but was as good as.​

 

[Kairi Kennedy]

Kairi smiled and started running towards the monkey bars, holding on to his hand and pulling him with her. She was giggling the whole time, just having a great time. They reached the bars easily, and she let go of his hand to start climbing. "So how old are you?" She asked him, focusing a bit on her hands as she moved.

 

[Daiki Saito]

Daiki followed her easily, smiling was easy around her. He reached up to the bars after she did, and pulled himself up, following in behind her. "I'm six!" he said to her with an eager smile. "What age are you?" he asked, as he focused on moving to the next bar after she did. ​

 

[Kairi Kennedy]

Kairi lit up, climbing up on top of the monkey bars and sitting there, grasping the bars for balance and swinging her feet. "Oh! Oh, I'm six too!" She giggled. "When is your birthday?" She asked, curious now which one of them was older.

 

[Daiki Saito]

Daiki pulled himself up above the bars and sat like she was before giving a smile. "Cool!" he said, since it was cool that she was about his age. "It's the 14th of June. Whens yours?" he asked. He hoped he was just a little older than her.

 

[Kairi Kennedy]

Kairi's eyes lit up and she giggled, swinging her little legs a bit happily. "August 14th!" She told him with a big smile. "You're two months older!" She giggled again, leaning her head against his shoulder. "That's so cool! We were almost born on the same day," She chattered. "What do you like to do for your birthday?" She asked him.

 

[Daiki Saito]

Daiki looked down at the ground and let his legs swing under him. Before nodding. He didn't correct her that they very much weren't born on almost the same day. They were two months apart and then shrugged. "Dad and I usually go to a rugby game. He's a rugby coach," Daiki explained. He hadn't been much of a party guy. "you?"

 

[Kairi Kennedy]

Kairi kept swinging her legs. She didn't want to admit she just went alone, so she shrugged and decided on a vague answer instead. "Oh, there's an ice skating rink in town I really like!" She told him. "I really love ice skating. Have you ever been?" She asked him.

 

[Daiki Saito]

Daiki shook his head, "I've never been," he said. He had never done that and it sounded cool. He didn't even notice that that the girl had avoided the questions. Daiki was just more interested in the ice skating that she had been talking about.