“I will need to look at shoelaces,” says Lee. “I was planning on getting pretty ones, not just black or white; her favourite colours are blue, red and purple.”

  “That is easy,” says Sue. “You guys need new trainers, so the shop might have the shoelaces there.”

  Once they get home, Lee runs into his room and starts to make a keychain with three strings, six ends; halfway through, he places the most expensive Spragly Rabbit beast stone he has—estimated to be worth around two hundred and fifty yen—before continuing with the weaving of the shoelaces.

  Once happy, he adds the keychain ring; then, opening his drawer, he removes some stitching line and starts to intertwine a few strings until he has a small cord. Happy with the length, he tightens the two ends together and adds some UV resin that he bought from the cosplay shop to make sure that they don’t come undone; afterwards, he weaves a phone pendant like the one on his phone.

  “Lee, I think mum is sick,” Sakura says, entering the bedroom, speaking some words in Latin and others in Japanese.

  “Why would you say that?” Lee asks looking at her, not in a panic as she spoke some words in Latin.

  Sakura extends her hand. “My hair clip is broken, and mum said to see if you want it.” She then shakes her head. “So I think she is sick; you don’t use hair pins.”

  Lee takes the hairpin and smiles; as the clip is intact, it was only the ornament that fell out. “Yes, I can use it, thank you,” he says taking it from Sakura’s hands. “Or would you like me to fix it?”

  “No, I have more,” she says scratching her head. “Are you going to use hair pins?”

  Lee nods. “Yes, I will use it,” he says; then, noticing Sakura’s confusion, he adds, “I will use it, but not wear it.”

  Sakura shrugs and looks at what Lee is making; she then grabs the keychain. “This one is beautiful.” Then she looks at Lee’s hands. “That one too; what is that for?”

  Lee shows her his phone. “It’s like this one; you can place it in your phone, tablet or console.” Then, noticing the shine in Sakura’s eyes, he adds, “Don’t worry, I will make one for you when I finish this one.” He then opens his drawer and Sakura sees the collection of strings, organised in colour bundles. “Pick two colours for it.”

  On the following day, Lee dresses smartly and puts on his new trainers.

  Sue drives him to Suhan’s family house; just before they leave the car, Sue looks at him. “Lee, keep your phone with you at all times; if anyone does something to you or you want to go home, just call me or your dad, and we will come and get you.”

  “Don’t worry, mum; I will be okay,” Lee says, but then to make Sue relax, he adds, “Don’t worry; I have my phone, and it is fully charged; if I don’t like the party, I will call you.”

  As they knock on the door, a butler opens it. “Good morning, how may I be of assistance?”

  Sue smiles as she says, “I’m here to drop off my son for the birthday party.”

  The butler looks at Lee in disgust. “This is a refined birthday party, so please be gone; no way can a low-class child be friends with the young mistress.”

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  Sue is taken aback and involuntarily takes a step back.

  Lee, on the other hand, smiles—a devilish smile. “Mum, you were right; some people are full of themselves. A plain butler thinks that he is more than the guests of the birthday girl.” He then turns a sharp gaze at the butler. “I wonder how your young mistress, the daughter of your boss, will react when I inform her that I couldn't attend her party due to being blocked by a butler.” Lee then turns around and tugs at his mum’s sleeves. “Mum, let's go back.”

  The butler, hearing Lee’s words, turns paler. But before he can say something, someone passes by him and runs down the stairs towards Lee.

  “Lee, why are you going away?” Suhan asks holding on to Lee’s sleeve.

  Lee turns around and smiles at Suhan; behind the butler, he finds a man; Lee assumes it is her dad, but at the same time he is not sure as the man is very young.

  Looking back at Suhan, he says, “Sorry, but it looks like someone of my social class cannot be friends with someone like you.”

  Suhan, only having the brain of a five-year-old, asks in confusion, “What does that mean?”

  Lee shakes his head. “Your butler said that this was a fancy party, and that I was too poor to be your friend.”

  “But you are my friend,” says Suhan; then turning around, asks the butler, “Did you really say that?”

  “No miss, this child is making things up,” says the butler, stumbling through his words. “He even doesn't have an invitation, and I was told to only let people in that have invitations.”

  Lee reaches into his denim jacket—that somehow got rotated back into style—and removes the envelope with the invitation. “You mean this one?” he says passing the envelope to the butler.

  Sweat starts to form on the butler's forehead. “You have an invitation?”

  The man that has been behind the butler takes a step forward and looks over his shoulder to look at the invitation. “Did you even try to inquire if the child had an invitation?” he says, making the butler jump.

  “Sir, I... I was…” the butler struggles to form a phrase.

  The man lifts a hand to make him quiet down, then looking at Lee, smiles. “Hello, I’m Wren, Suhan’s oldest brother; may I please know your name?”

  Lee stands straight and bows. “Hello, Mister Wren Grassphin; it’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Lee Watson and one of your sister's class friends.” He then stands back up and adds with a smile, “Feel free to just call me Lee.”

  Wren nods in approval. “Very well done, Lee; you just demonstrated more politeness and etiquette than most of the guests combined.” He says pointing behind himself with a thumb. “But you don’t need to be too formal with me; you may just call me Wren, I’m fine with it.” Wren then lifts his gaze to look at Sue, who is speechless looking at the way Lee is speaking. “And will you be joining us too, Miss?”

  Sue just blinks her eyes. So Lee tugs at her sleeve. “Mum, Mr Wren is asking you a question.”

  At Lee’s words, Sue snaps back to reality. “Hello, no, sorry; I just came to drop off my son,” she says, then adds, “If that is okay.”

  “Sure it is,” says Wren. “Don’t worry, your son is our guest; we will look after him.”

  “Thank you,” Sue says with a bow, then adds, “By the way, what time do I have to come back to pick him up?”

  Wren shakes his head. “There is no time; we have plans to cut the cake around three, but the party will be going until later on tonight, so don’t worry.”

  “Thank you; so around four, either me or my husband will come to pick him up,” says Sue, then crouching down says to Lee, “You behave and be respectful to your elders.”

  Lee nods. “Don’t worry, mum; I will be respectful to anyone that respects me.”

  Sue smiles and heads to her car; only when she gets in the car does she understand the full implication of Lee’s words just now.

  Meanwhile at the door, Wren looks at Suhan. “Suhan, take your guest inside to the party; I will be right by you in a bit, I just need to talk to this butler.”

  “Okay, big brother,” she says then reaches for Lee’s hand and says as she pulls him along, “Come on, Lee, let’s go play.”

  Lee follows her; once inside, he stops and reaches into his pocket. “Wait, here. Happy Birthday,” he says passing a small package.

  Taking the gift, she says, “Thank you, Lee; what is it?”

  “Just open it and you will see,” Lee says with a smile.

  Suhan shakes her head as a maid approaches and takes the gift from her, then reaching into her apron, takes a pen. “Lee Watson,” says Suhan to the maid, who writes the name on the package; then facing Lee she says, “In my family, we have a tradition of opening all the gifts before cutting the cake.”