Katrina gazed at Miss Satomi’s hands. They were so slender, elegant, they almost looked sculpted. Hers? Large, ugly, rough-hewn things. They could never fit into the right gloves, fit through a bangle, or wear a pretty ring.

Fuck her stupid hands.

“You know,” she finally said, “sometimes I would scrunch my hands into balls. I’d sit on them, hold them under coats. Sometimes, I wished I could cut my pinky off.”

Shizuka was horrified. “What are you talking about?”

“People look at these hands, and they immediately know. That I am really a boy.”

“What?”

“Miss Satomi, so my fingers have reach and know where to go, and yes, they help me make music, but are they beautiful?”

Shizuka put her instrument down and held Katrina’s hands in her own.

“Katrina. That is beautiful.”

The following Saturday, practice was interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

Katrina heard Miss Astrid leading a group of people coming downstairs. One was Mrs. Tran. There was a guy, a little older than Katrina. He was kind of cute, but something about him made her uneasy. There were also two kids, a boy and a girl.

“These are my children, Markus and Edwin and Windee.”

“Edwin and I are twins!” Windee shouted.

Katrina nodded reflexively.

“So … where do you want the recording studio?” Markus said.

“R-recording studio?”

“If you are going to make videos, you’ll need a proper recording studio,” Miss Satomi said. “I have noticed that well-produced videos invariably get more views. So I asked Lan if she could help.”

The donut lady? What help could she be?

“I’ll explain later,” Miss Satomi said.

Miss Satomi led the visitors to a room Katrina had not yet noticed. “I’ve been using this room for storage, but I think it will be perfect.”

“We’ll start clearing it now! Come on, Edwin!” Windee said.

Markus, Windee, and Edwin began carrying boxes out of the room. Soon, the room was empty, and the three began preparing it for … something?

Edwin frowned. “That’s all the power these outputs have? What kind of technology runs off of this?”

“That’s why we have the minireactor, silly,” Windee said.

Windee picked up what looked like a pulsing blue Thermos and tossed it to Markus.

“Windee!” Lan said. “You be careful! Earth buildings are fragile.”

“So-rry!”

“Miss Satomi?”

“I’ll explain later,” Miss Satomi said.

“Miss Katrina, remember, these are the same people that got us our Wi-Fi,” Miss Astrid added.

“Is it working well?” Lan asked.

“Yes—by the way, who is the provider?”

“Oh, whoever.”

Miss Satomi put her finger to her lips.

This, she did not have to explain. No matter where you live, if you have an Asian friend who can set you up with free Wi-Fi, you go with it and don’t ask questions.