Chapter 18

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Shri appeared back in his family's rented apartment in Yumemite, grinning.
"So, where you went?" Shruti asked as soon as she let her brother into the house. "Went to see Misao, right?"
"Yeah," Shri sighed. "Also, wanna go out tomorrow? All of us?"
"I can, but your father lah," Suganthi chimed in, sitting in front of the television. "Ask him and see lah."
Shri frowned, seeing that Shridhar wasn't with them. "Where he went?"
"Still out lah he," Shruti shrugged. "He went out with that Hirohito feller for something."
"It's Hitohira lah," Shri groaned. "Why you mix up everything ah?"
Shruti shrugged. "What to do, the name so long."
Suganthi snorted. "Hirohito not some king ah? Japan time king?"
"Yeah," Shri agreed, laughing at his sister. "Shruti, Hirohito is the Japanese emperor, Emperor Showa, during the wartime..."
"Oh..." Shruti nodded understandingly. "During the... Japanese era in our place lah?"
"Yeah, he's the one," Shri said, taking his shoes off and tossing them aside. "Anyway, any idea what time he'll come home? Almost night already."
Someone suddenly knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" Shruti called.
"Dare?" Shri called instead, much to their surprise.
"Your girlfriend!" Shridhar's voice laughed back. "Open lah!"
Shri sighed and unlocked the door, revealing his smirking father behind it.
"Dare...?" Shridhar shook his head, making his way towards the dining chair to take his shoes off.
"Yeah lah, Japan, what?" Shri pointed out. "If Japanese person means how?"
"What lah you," Shridhar sighed, shaking his head. "Who'll come here this late? You tell me lah."
"Fine," Shri sighed. Then he lit up with a grin. "Pa, tomorrow you free ah?"
"Yeah?" Shridhar indifferently said, tossing his shoes aside. "Why?"
"No, just now Misao took me around," Shri began. "She took me to the kabuki theatre all. Wanna go?"
"Can?" Suganthi shrugged. "Sounds good."
"Kabuki not like the Chinese Opera they have during Hungry Ghost and stuff ah?" Shruti doubtfully asked. "Like that only, what. They wear the mask all and dance-dance with serious face all?"
"Yeah, but this is meant for entertainment," Shri pointed out.
"That one also for entertainment, what," Shruti countered. "To entertain ghost."
"Yeah but this is for people," Shri pointed out. "Also, you went right for the opera last year? You ghost ah?"
Shruti let out a loud scoff. "Ma! See lah! He so bad!"
"Mohan...!" Suganthi warned.
"Ma, correct what!" Shri said again. "Anyway, you all wanna go tomorrow or not? It was nice. Then we went to the temple also."
Everyone looked at Shridhar, expecting a reply.
"Can," Shridhar simply said. "Nice ah?"
"Haiya, nice or not nice, experience only, what?" Shruti chimed in. "I wanna see."
"I thought you said it's for ghost and stuff?" Shri smirked.
"You said no?" Shruti countered.
Shri just sighed. "Fine."
With that, he just went to his room.

Shri whipped out the pen that Misao gave him and sat at the dressing table in front of the mirror to write in his journal before bed. He frowned at his reflection, remembering how his mother always warned him to not look into a mirror at night. So he reached for his towel and covered the mirror before sitting down to write again.
So he started writing, going on and on about what he did that day from coincidentally meeting Misao at the convenience store, to his experience at the Kabuki theatre to having ice cream with Misao, to the Yasaka Jinja, and finally to the stroll he took along Maruyama Park as well as the famous Weeping Cherry Blossom.
Shri smiled when remembering his conversation with her, how she had subtly complimented him.

A book written with the personality and language proficiency of yours will certainly be worth reading.

Shri remembered those exact words, feeling his face going red as he blushed. He wrote that quote down in his journal, word for word.
He was glad that someone that he barely just got to know had such a high image of him. It also made him wonder. Was he worth that compliment in the first place? Or was Misao just being nice?
Shri decided to just give it the benefit of the doubt as he closed his book and pushed it away, safely keeping his treasured pen in its case. He was about to take his glasses off and turn the lights out for bed when someone rapped on the door.
"Yes?" Shri called. The door opened and Shruti peeped in. "Oh, it's you."
Shruti grinned and closed the door before coming in, clad in a nightgown. "Never sleep yet ah?"
"Nope, not yet," Shri shrugged. "You? What you doing here?"
Shruti shrugged and sat down on his bed. "Simply. Just came to talk because boring."
"What happened to your book? Finish reading already ah?"
"No lah, not yet."
"Then?"
"Aiya, I come to talk to you also cannot ah?" Shruti groaned. "So obvious you trying to halau me."
Shri sighed. "What lah... where got?" He noticed her giving him a deadpan look and sighed again. "Fine... what you wanna talk about?"
"How is it going with Misao?" Shruti smirked.
Shri groaned. "Why ah you? Always like this."
"What, I'm just asking!" Shruti pointed out. "Tell lah! I just wanna know. I won't say anything, okay?"
Shri sighed. "I don't know lah. She very friendly, took me for Kabuki, temple, park all. But I feel like right... she likes me but just don't wanna say it."
Shruti gasped. "What happen?! What did she say?"
"She touched my hand the other day," Shri begrudgingly admitted. "Like suddenly just grab my hand when we were looking at the Shirakawa Canal."
Shruti grinned. "That's it. She definitely likes you. I know you also like her."
"I don't know..." Shri sighed. "Isn't it a little too early to decide? We going back soon some more. She gonna stay here. How?"
Shruti smiled. "Shri, if she really likes you, she'll come for you wherever you are. If you're meant for each other, faith itself will bring you together. Really."
Shri looked at her in surprise.
"What?" Shruti said, annoyed at his reaction. "Correct, what?"
"Yeah lah, but you telling only very funny," Shri laughed. "You read this in romance novel ah?"
Shruti rolled her eyes and got up to leave. "Think whatever you like lah, I going. Sayonara."
Shri shook his head, watching her stride out of the room. But then her statement still rang in his mind. Was he really in love with Misao and she was in love with him too?
He took his glasses off and got ready to sleep. After all, going around sightseeing in Kyoto was tiring.

***

"He says he's gonna send me his book!" Misao excitedly announced to Kumiko. "I'm sure he's such a good writer. Remember how he was writing at the cafe when we met him yesterday?"
"Yeah," Kumiko nodded, stuffing her face with potato chips.
"I'm sure he's an amazing writer, honestly," Misao smiled. "You see how he speaks, right? So fluent! And he didn't even go for classes to speak like that!"
"Uh huh," Kumiko nodded, stuffing more chips into her mouth. "Misao, why don't you just admit it already? You're clearly in love with him!"
"I know!" Misao whined. "But what would his family think? I know his sister likes me, but his parents?"
"Oh come on, Misao," Kumiko groaned. "The way he looks at you says it all. There, that magatama you're wearing now says it all too."
Misao sighed. "I know... but I'm just scared. What if I come off as clingy or pushy?"
"Misao..." Kumiko groaned again.
"He probably thinks I'm stalking him," Misao blurted out. "He almost turned around and left when I saw him in the shop this morning. I'm the one who called him. Only then did he acknowledge me."
Kumiko frowned. "Maybe he thinks that you might feel that way instead? After all, you were already there. He's the one that appeared after you."
That was pretty true too but Shri only tried to avoid her not because of what Misao might think but because of his family constantly shipping him with her.
"Maybe you're right," Misao agreed with a sigh. "But he never really showed signs of being uncomfortable, honestly."
Kumiko simply shrugged.

Translations!
-halau literally means shoo away lol. Most of the time, even in English sentences, we use this word though we can actually say shoo away. Maybe... it's because we usually say kena halau means got shooed out.
-where got? This is a direct translation of mana ada in Malay, meaning since when or says who. Actually, the Malay version is technically informal too, almost grammatically incorrect. But it's correct, just a form of slang that you cannot use in essay-writing but is fine in stories and everyday speaking.
-also, I'm honestly not sure where the what in the end of sentences actually came from lol. We sometimes use it in Malay too, adding apa in the end of sentences but it's grammatically wrong, same as how it's used in English. It's just a filler sorta thing... like a way of pointing something out. Yeah. That's the best way to put it.
-some more at the end of sentences is something like too or as well. Something like that, it's because of the sharing grammar with different languages like Malay, Tamil, and Chinese. Roll them into English and you get Manglish lol.

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