Hideki in knee pants?

When I knocked on Ms. Winter’s apartment door, I was expecting to be greeted by the owner of the cheerful voice I’d encountered over the phone. Instead, when the door opened I immediately recognized the ‘boy’, though if he recognized me, and I don’t understand how he couldn’t have, he gave no indication whatsoever.

Standing before me inside the apartment was no boy, but the elusive balloon art genius, Hideki. He looked, however, very different from what I'd last remembered of Hideki, now wearing denim knee pants with an over-sized NBA t-shirt, and a Toronto Blue Jays baseball cap backwards. He also had white iPod buds in his ears, and the music was turned up so loud I could clearly hear it (thrash-metal, from the sounds of it), and was working on what looked like a grilled-cheese sandwich. He was also eating with his mouth open. Hideki was lactose intolerant and would never have been seen devouring dairy products of any kind, much less eating in such a distasteful manner. Was this really Hideki? Perhaps I'd been mistaken...