Origin of my profile pic

The first time I met Abby* she was wearing her usual outfit--black pants, black shoes, black vest. A little dark for a junior high student, I thought. As I passed by her desk, in full teacher mode, I noticed her notebook, which was covered in anime pictures and kanji. In high school I was a huge anime fan. (My bedroom wall was literally covered with posters.) So I thought, here's something we have in common that I can use to connect to her.

"Rayearth?" I said, pointing to a pic on her notebook. "That's a good one. What's your favorite anime? I don't think I know these other characters." Abby's eyes lifted up from her work and glared at me. It was the stare of death. My attempt at connection had been officially deemed uncool. I backed away and decided to hold off on any subsequent conversation until I learned how many katanas she owned.

A few days later, however, I was writing on the board before class started when she came up to me and said, "Konichiwa." "Ohayo," I replied. "Though it's not really morning anymore..." "What?" she asked.

"Ohayo means good morning," I said, continuing to write on the board. "Let's see, I also know itadakimasu...arigato of course..."

"You speak Japanese?" she asked slowly. I turned and looked at her. Her eyes were wide and sparkling. I was an angel delivering manna from heaven.

"Well, I just know random words," I backtracked. "From watching anime. And the Internet. My best friend, now, she actually knows Japanese--"

"Can you write down those words you said?" she asked, whipping out a notebook and sticking it in my face. "Umm...sure." "What anime do you watch? Have you seen Death Note? That's my favorite. Those are the characters on my notebook, but I don't think my drawings are really good, I've got to practice more. And what do you think..."

Thus my connection with Abby began. I taught her some more Japanese words I'd picked up and she lent me Death Note and drew pictures for me, including my profile picture. Here's the full version: *Name changed. I picked Abby because she reminds me of Abby from NCIS.