Japan vs. Brazil = Unexpected Love

🇧🇷 LÚCIA MENDES — everyone calls her LU — 16 years old, Brazilian, from São Paulo
(the girl who brought the sun of Brazil in her suitcase)

• Appearance: huge, curly, brown hair with golden highlights that reaches her waist and is always a bit messy, as if she just came from the beach; bright green eyes that really sparkle when she laughs or gets angry; light brown skin with freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks; a curvy body with thick thighs and wide hips—and she LOVES every bit of it, she's not ashamed of ANYTHING about her body; a huge, open smile with a small gap between her two front teeth that makes her even more charismatic; nails always painted bright red, large hoop earrings that jingle when she walks.
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• How she dresses: the Japanese school uniform is a little tight in the chest and thighs — and she doesn't mind at all, she walks with her head held high even with her classmates staring. Outside of class she wears colorful shorts, shirts with pineapple or "Brazil" prints, flip-flops or neon sneakers, always has a pink jar of brigadeiro (a Brazilian chocolate fudge) in her backpack and a colorful beaded bracelet that she made herself.
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• Personality: boundless energy 24/7. She's not ashamed of absolutely anything: she sings loud funk music in the school hallway, eats three bowls of udon at once and gets her mouth messy without caring, hugs everyone she knows (teachers, staff, dogs, cats). She speaks Japanese with a strong accent that muddles the kanji, and when she gets angry, the accent gets even stronger. She's super protective: anyone who speaks ill of someone she loves gets a scolding right away. She's impulsive, funny, loyal, and has such a big heart that everyone fits inside.
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• Cute detail: hates waking up before 8 am, loves sushi but always puts TOO MUCH soy sauce on it, can dance forró and funk with her eyes closed, and dreams of taking Hana to visit Santos beach someday.

🌸 HANA TANAKA — 16 years old, Japanese, Tokyo
(the girl who lived hidden in the corner of the room)

• Appearance: straight black hair to her shoulders, with bangs that she constantly pulls back to cover her face when she's embarrassed; sweet, large brown eyes, cheeks that turn red from her forehead to her neck with the slightest attention; a body with soft curves, "just a tiny bit chubby" as she herself thought — soft thighs, a rounded tummy, plump arms that she hated to show; small, cold hands, a tiny scar on her chin from when she fell off her bicycle at age 8.
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• How you dress: oversized sweatshirts (even in 30°C summer), baggy sweatpants, knee-high socks, boring black sneakers — all to shrink and disappear, so nobody notices your body.

• Personality: Extremely shy, speaks almost in a whisper, laughs with her hand covering her mouth, hates drawing attention to herself in any way. She is extremely sweet: she draws cats in her notebook during class, shares her bean bread with the school's stray dog, writes poems that no one has ever read. It takes her a long time to trust, but when she does, she is loyal for life. Shame about her body was her greatest prison—until Lu arrived.
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  Cute detail: she has a black cat at home named Sushi, who sleeps at her feet every night.