Ride on Time

Chapter 12

"Yay! I win!" Kumiko cheered, placing her tile on the shogi board.
Misao sighed. "Congrats. Seriously, why do you even bother asking me to play with you? You know I suck at this, right?"
"Well, how else do you play with clients?" Kumiko pointed out.
"Kumi, I work at a ryōtei not at an okiya. There's a difference."
"Okay, but why not?"
"Kumi..."
"Fine, let's just play again."
Misao groaned and got up. "No thanks. You just keep winning. Where's the fun in that?"
Kumiko sighed and started packing the pieces. Misao immediately took cover in her room, sighing in relief. Her gaze swept the posters one by one, then landing on the one for Pistha. Misao chuckled when she remembered how she bumped into the Malaysian siblings, even talking about the movie together. So far, they were the only ones who actually knew of the movies she was talking about since Kumiko wasn't really into Tamil movies and preferred Korean movies instead.
Her gaze then fell on the Maneki Neko on her table. It was a cute little white cat, smiling with one paw raised as if beckoning. She chuckled as she remembered how she had given one to Shri as well.
Now it made her feel a little bad that she had not given anything to Shruti. After all, she was close to her too.
Misao made it a point to get to the city the very next morning to get something for the younger woman.
Besides, she wanted to get more movies for her collection.

***

"Where are you going?" Kumiko asked, holding her bowl of cereal under her chin as she watched tv. "It's so early too."
"I'm going to the city," Misao absentmindedly tucked a strand of her kanzashi behind her ear, only to free it again. "I wanna get some movies. You wanna come?"
Kumiko frowned thoughtfully. "Nah. I wanna chill today."
"You're always chilling," Misao muttered as she left the house. "By the way, bye!"
"Yeah, bye."
Misao snorted and left the house, walking straight to the train station to make her way to the city.
And who should she see in the train but the very person she wanted to get a gift for?
"Seriously, you guys are everywhere!" Misao said as she sat down on the seat next to Shri. She could see why he was sitting very close to his sister, pushing her to the very corner of the booth. "By the way, is this your first time going to the city?"
"Sorta," Shri shrugged. "We don't even know our way around. I'm just hoping we don't get lost."
Misao chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll help out."
Shruti snorted, leaning forward to see her. "Thanks because Shri is an awful navigator."
"I know..." Shri admitted. "We totally got lost at the street the other day. It was a good thing you came up."
The train stopped at a station and a large group filled in. Every seat was occupied and many had to hold on to the handles as they stood. The spot next to Misao was occupied too but she didn't really think much about it, facing the Malaysian siblings all the while.
"You guys wanna grab lunch together?" Misao asked. "There's this place that serves really good Indian food."
The two of them immediately shook their heads.
"Come on, we came all the way here to eat what, the same thing we eat at home?" Shruti frowned. "Let's try Japanese food! I'm sure there's more to it than sushi and Kare Raisu, right?"
Misao smiled. "Of course there is."
She suddenly felt a nudge on her knee and turned to see a man in a business suit sitting there, his face hidden behind the day's newspaper. Misao just frowned and turned back to the siblings.
"I really want you guys to try other types of Wagashi," Misao smiled. "There's this place that sells mostly snacks. It's really good. They have savoury snacks like tonkatsu and yakitori too."
She suddenly felt something rub her upper arm and yelped.
"What's wrong?" Shri asked, his sister just as alerted.
Misao frowned and motioned towards the man next to her, his face still hidden behind the newspaper. Shri scowled and motioned for her to get up.
"Shri, no, it won't do to punch him here," Misao quickly said. "People would only accuse you of assault."
Shri shook his head. "Who says I'm gonna punch him? Just get up."
Misao sighed and got up. Shri immediately slid to her spot and patted on the seat he was sitting on. Misao chuckled and sat down next to Shruti, who was giggling at what the creep's reaction would be like when he notices a man sitting next to him instead.
Shri pressed his finger against his lips and turned to the man as he rubbed his arm against his, then rubbing a hand down his knee. When he realised that it was a lot bigger than before, he lowered the newspaper slightly and turned pale when he saw a bearded man sitting there instead of the young woman he had tried to harass. Shri smirked and wiggled his eyebrows, silently taunting him. The man instantly turned away and covered his face with the newspaper again.
Shruti was trying really hard to suppress her laughter. "Aiyo, I cannot lah! You ah!"
Misao smiled at her. "I like your nosering."
Shruti grinned. "Thanks! It's tradition."
"I know," Misao nodded. "I watch Indian movies, remember?"
Shruti chuckled and took out her book to read.
Shri grinned and turned to Misao. "Anyway, we got that settled. Where should we go?"

Misao brought the siblings to a mall.
"Wah..." the siblings gazed in awe.
"Go on, go shopping!" Misao chuckled. "I'll wait here if I finish early."
The siblings watched in surprise as she waved and left.
"Eh what lah she?" Shruti pointed at where she disappeared off to, turning to her brother. "She just bring us here and belah like this means how lah?"
"I don't know," Shri gulped. "Come lah, we just lepak and see what got first."
"Got a lot lah," Shruti's eyes shined at the shops around her. "All cute-cute things some more!"
So they went around the mall and bought whatever that pleased their eyes, especially Shruti. Shri wondered how she even had that much money on her.
"How you so rich?" Shri asked in surprise when Shruti bought a bunch of stuff again.
"My money lah, what for you?" Shruti frowned. "I earn myself, okay?"
They eventually had enough and navigated their way back to the entrance. Misao was waiting for them, carrying only a few bags of things.
"Ready to go?" Misao asked when they went to her.
"Yeah, sure..." Shri shrugged. "You said wanna makan— I mean have lunch?"
"What's makan?" Misao asked curiously.
"It means eat," Shruti chuckled, making an eating gesture.
"Oh, okay," Misao nodded. "Come on, there's a good restaurant right here."
So Misao led them to a shop in the lower ground floor and bagged a table. Shruti decided to sit next to Misao while Shri sat in front of them.
"Don't ask me, I don't know anything about Japanese food," Shruti admitted with a sigh. She then pointed at her brother. "There, ask him. He knows inside out."
Misao chuckled and handed the menu to him.
"Uh... I can't read Japanese," Shri sighed. "But I think I know the names of the food though."
Misao started telling him about it one by one. Well, he didn't know half of it, and Misao ended up explaining what each item was too. Soon, they ordered and were eating.
"So far, we've only tried donburi, sushi and kare raisu," Shri's gaze swept the plates in front of him. "This is the first time we're trying teishoku. Is it good?"
"Oi, stop staring at the food and eat lah," Shruti rolled her eyes. "Just eat. It's really nice."
Shri ate his food and took a small notebook out to jot down everything he ate.
"For my book later," Shri grinned, putting the notebook away.
"You're a writer?" Misao asked in surprise.
"Yes, I am," Shri chuckled.
"He's working on a book about our stay in Japan," Shruti smirked, eyeing her brother.
"Oh?" Misao gasped. "Oh my gosh, that's amazing! Shri, if you need any info, you can ask me."
Shri just grinned, giving his sister a kick under the table. Shruti was proud of what she had done.

Misao's harassment was based on a real life Chikan story I read online. If I'm not mistaken, it actually happened to a policewoman. And no, I wasn't exaggerating lol. I think the story was much worse and the creep got away with it. This one was a little more amusing lol

Translations...
-belah means leave or go away lol. It can also mean an as an insult, but can be casual too.
-lepak means hang around.