Ride on Time

Chapter 6

Shri returned to the apartment, wearing a smile all the way. Even the woman he rode with in the lift noticed that he was bursting with joy.
He walked towards the suite that he was staying at and knocked. Instantly, his sister opened.
"Where you went?" Shruti smirked. "To see that Misau girl, right?"
"Actually, it's Misa-o," Shri chuckled, entering the suite. "And yeah, I saw her. Accidentally bumped into her when coming home."
"Yeah, she actually came to shop at the ElevenSeven across the street," Shruti informed. "Then she walked off and then you came from the same direction, smiling away."
"Spy ah you?" Shri frowned, pulling her nose.
"What, I just saw from the balcony lah!" Shruti defended, pushing him off. "I know ah, that she will suddenly come like that?"
Shri frowned. His sister did have a point.
"Fine... I saw her, okay?" Shri sighed, sitting down on the living room couch, where his mother sat reading. "She asked for you, and she thought we are from India."
"Did you say we're Malaysian?" Shruti asked. "I hope you did."
"I did," Shri rolled his eyes with a sigh.
"Who's this Misau?" Suganthi suddenly asked, much to Shri's surprise.
Shri's eyes almost popped out of his head. "Remember the geisha girl that found my Om and helped us look for a goldsmith just now? Yeah, it's her." He gulped.
"Oh, you saw her again ah?" Suganthi smirked. "How is she? Is she pretty?"
"Oh yeah, very," Shri chuckled. "She helped us around, took us to the bookshop too."
Suganthi nodded thoughtfully. "So correct lah, what we said."
"What you said?" Shri asked, confused.
"That you'll someday marry a Japanese girl," Suganthi simply stated, closing her book.
"Ma!" Shri groaned.

***

"You really wanna go find her house?" Shri doubtfully asked for the hundredth time. "What lah! Stalking lah, all this!"
"Aiya, just wait lah," Shruti smirked. "You see, she'll come."
The siblings hid behind the Yumemite Apartments' sign board to wait for Misao. Of course she was gonna pass Yumemite if they saw her rushing off to work only that morning.
"Still, are you sure this is a good idea?" Shri frowned. "Like... she think we stalking her means how?"
"That one later we can think," Shruti brushed him off. "Now, we see whether she coming or not."
A few geisha women walked.
"Shruti, I don't think she'll come home yet," Shri pointed out. "She works in restaurant lah, Ryōtei, not Okiya..."
"Not the restaurant name itself Ryōtei Okiya ah?" Shruti countered, confused. "So is it a Ryōtei or an Okiya?"
"It's a Ryōtei named Okiya lah," Shri sighed. "Got difference. Like see, near our house itself got Restaurant Flower Garden. One flower also don't have. What about that?"
"Hmm... you got point," Shruti nodded. "Then, come lah. We go to her restaurant."
"What?" Shri asked in surprise. "Shruti... we need to book first lah. You think what, we can just waltz in? Ryōtei, some more!"
Shruti rolled her eyes. "Then we book lah."
"I don't have Japan number. How to book?"
Shruti smirked.

"You got coin ah?" Shruti asked as she squeezed into a telephone booth with her brother.
Shri sighed and rummaged in his pockets for coins then took his wallet out when he found none. He handed her a ¥50 coin. Shruti took it and flipped through the yellow pages to find the ryōtei's number. She smirked when she found it and inserted the coin into the pay phone before dialling the number.
"Ringing," Shruti informed when Shri frowned at her. "Nah, you only can speak Japanese what," she smirked as she handed the receiver to Shri.
"What, me? I where can speak Japanese?" Shri asked in surprise.
"Aiya, you'll tell, what! Ichiban lah, arigato lah, whatever lah," Shruti grinned. "Just talk lah!"
Shri rolled his eyes and took the phone from her, praying that the person who picks up speaks English.
"Moshi moshi!" A voice answered on the other end.
"Uh... hello, is this... the... Ryōtei Okiya?"
"Yes, yes, this is Ryōtei Okiya, how can I help you?" Shri heaved a sigh of relief when the woman spoke in clear English.
"Ah yes, I'd like to fix a reservation under... Mohan?"
For some reason, he decided to choose his second name. Maybe because he didn't like how some Japanese people mispronounced his name, extending the gap in the middle of his name from Shri to Sh-ri.
"Is this your first time here?"
"No, it isn't. I came in last week with my family, under my father's company. His name is Shridhar, booked for a meeting?"
"Oh! The business meeting. Okay, we'll fix the reservation. What time?"
"Umm..." Shri turned to his sister for an answer, who in turn mouthed 'six'. "Uhh... six o'clock?"
"Hmm... I'm sorry sir, we're unavailable at six..."
"Oh... then what time are you available?"
"Five? There's a slot free to be booked at five."
"Five ah...?" Shri gave Shruti a sideways glance who nodded approvingly, holding her thumbs up. "Uh, sure. That would be great. Arigato Gozaimasu!"
"Ie ie, no problem," the woman replied. "We're looking forward to see you!"
Shri placed the receiver back into its cradle.
"Book already ah?" Shruti grinned when he frowned at her.
"Yeah..." Shri sighed. "Don't know how much they gonna ask."
Shruti frowned thoughtfully. "I pay, okay?"
Shri looked at her in surprise. "Since when you so good?"
Shruti shrugged. "What to do, you still my favourite brother what. If Big One do something like this means you think I'll help ah?"
"True," Shri chuckled. "He one more. Always muka masam."
They left the phone booth and started making their way towards the Ryōtei.
"What's the time ah?" Shruti asked as they walked. "You simply tell five o'clock can, but never see time also."
"I asked you, right?" Shri pointed out, rolling his eyes. "You only said can."
"Whatever, what's the time now?"
Shri looked at his watch and chuckled. "Three-forty. Still got time."
Shruti nodded but stopped short. "Shri, your watch following Japan time or Malaysia time?"
"Malaysia time, why?" Shri said then gasped as realisation hit him. "Alamak, we only got twenty minutes ah?!"
"Aiyoyo!" Shruti exclaimed dramatically.
Shri started running, but Shruti had a better idea. She grabbed her brother's hand and pulled him towards the curb, sticking her hand out to the road.
"What you doing?" Shri asked in surprise.
"Getting a taxi," Shruti quickly said, watching for any yellow taxis to come.
To their joy, a taxi pulled over beside them. The driver said something in Japanese, but they could only assume he was asking where they were heading to.
"Ryōtei Okiya," Shri quickly said.
The driver nodded and motioned for them to get in. The siblings quickly climbed into the backseat.
"You attend geisha party?" The driver asked.
"Yes," Shri quickly said. "Sado."
"Oh, sado!" The driver nodded understandingly.
"Who sado?" Shruti asked, confused. "You ah?"
"Aiyo, not that sado lah, this one different sado," Shri snorted. "Sado means tea ceremony."
"Oh..." Shruti understood. "I thought you saying the driver is sado."
Shri tried to hold his laugh. "You ah..."
The driver drove slowly, with a City Pop song playing on the radio. Shri didn't know what song it was, but recognised the singer to be Tatsuro Yamashita because of his distinct voice. They thought they'd never arrive at the Ryōtei, but they soon did. Shri paid the taxi driver before getting out with his sister. Shri looked at the time and sighed in relief when he saw that the time was only four-fifty-five.
"Perfect timing," Shri grinned.
"Let's go," Shruti smirked.
They went in and told of their reservation at the counter before being ushered to their booth. Shri and Shruti entered their booth and sat down. The shoji of the adjoining room opened and a geisha stepped in, bowing. She looked at them and gasped.

Also, translations...
-nah isn't the No kinda nah. It's what we say when we pass something to someone, be it an object or money or literally anything that is being passed to someone else.
-muka masam literally translates to sour face. Muka is face and masam means sour
-alamak is something to express panic, kinda like shoot or nuts or oh no! There's a Japanese equivalent too and it's arama, apparently. My Japanese language teacher, a Malaysian, said she was surprised to actually hear her Japanese friends say that and it apparently means the same thing as our alamak.
-sado means hunk or muscular in Malay lol. I found it funny when I found that the tea ceremony in Japan also meant sado lol