Kumiko let herself into the house and slumped down on the couch. Misao definitely wasn't home yet since the house was pitch dark and there wasn't anyone in the room or bathroom. She let out a tired groan and untied her obiage as she made her way to her room, loosening her wig as she did.
Just as she laid the wig down on the mannequin head, Kumiko heard the front door open and went out to see...
A tearful yet beaming Misao enter.
"Aiya! What happened to you?" Kumiko asked, concerned at seeing her friend like that. "Is everything okay?"
Misao chuckled and wiped some of her tears with the back of her hand, messing her oshiroi up even more. "It wasn't before, but everything is now."
"What happened?" Kumiko asked, still confused. "Come on, tell me!"
"Shri asked me out!" Misao announced.
Kumiko gasped. "Oh my god! You guys are finally dating?!"
Misao shrugged. "Not exactly but he did kinda ask me out since tomorrow is his last day here."
"You mean... he asked you to hang out?" Kumiko remarked, slightly disappointed. "Wait, I thought you said he was leaving tomorrow morning?"
Misao shook her head, grinning. "Nope! He's leaving the day after tomorrow. So he asked me out today. Neat, right?"
Kumiko shrugged. "Well, it's a good start, I guess. But why are you crying? Did you get hurt or something?"
Misao chuckled. "These are tears of joy, Kumi. Tears of joy. I couldn't help it!"
Kumiko smiled, shaking her head. "By the way... don't you have work tomorrow?"
Misao smirked. "I do, but nah. I'm gonna call in sick. Shri is more important than work."
"Oh, Misao..." Kumiko chuckled, taking her wig cap off and shaking her hair free.
"What, it's true, isn't it?" Misao pointed out. "Tomorrow's his last day here. I might not get to see him again for a few months. But I can always go to work, right?"
"Oh naruhodo..." Kumiko nodded understandingly. "So if I wanna hang out with you, you won't take the day off. But if it's Shri, you will?"
"Of course," Misao nodded matter-of-factly. "Because I see your face every day, unlike Shri. Maybe I'll go see him in Malaysia after Shogatsu or something. I have a few weeks of holidays then."
"Can I come too?" Kumiko jokingly asked. "I wanna see what Malaysia looks like too."
Misao chuckled. "Sure."
"Congratulations," Kumiko said, shaking Misao's hand dramatically. "You're finally going on a 'date' with Shri." She even added air quotes.
Misao started laughing, making her way to the bathroom. "Anyway, I wanna bathe."
"Hey, no fair!" Kumiko groaned. "I came in first!"
She let her anyway, seeing how much of a mess she was."Something happened," Shruti said as soon as Shri walked in. "Confirm, something happened."
Shri just smiled and sat down on the dining chair to take his shoes off.
"Tell lah, what happened?" Shruti asked again. "Saw the dance and got rasuk ah?"
"I'm going out with Misao tomorrow," Shri grinned. "She said she wanna spend my last day with me."
"Not you went for the Hungry Ghost dance or something ah?" Shruti asked, confused. "How Misao came in?"
"Yeah, the dance finish evening itself already, it seems," Shri shrugged. "Found Misao instead and we ended up talking, she thought we going home tomorrow. See-see, no."
"Then?" Shruti asked eagerly.
"I told her we're only leaving the day after tomorrow," Shri chuckled. "I think I accidentally told her that we going back tomorrow."
Shruti was so happy for him. "Good lah. At least you get to hang out with her before leaving, right?"
"Yeah..." Shri smiled, thinking about how Misao hugged his arm. "She was really tired too, just came back from work."
"How did you even end up seeing her again?" Shruti asked. "Like... you said the dance finish already, right?"
"I went to the park and she was there," Shri shrugged. "I didn't really know it was her at first then I call her name, she turned around."
"Oh wow..." Shruti chuckled. "Then maybe like that movie. She's your density. Not destiny, density."
"What lah..." Shri rolled his eyes, seeing what she's getting at. "All kinds of things you saying."
"Yeah lah. Wherever we go, she there. Wherever she go, you there. Also, you got give her number and address or not?"
Shri shook his head. "Not yet. Tomorrow must give."
"First you do that," Shruti pointed out. "If not, how to keep contact with her?"
"Yeah, you got point," Shri nodded. "Tomorrow I going out with her, right? I'll give her."
Shri tossed his shoes aside and got up, noticing how empty the house looked. "By the way... where Ma and Pa?"
"Out," Shruti shrugged. "They went to buy something downstairs and left me here in case you came back. They took the key with them."
"Oh, okay..." Shri said. "I wanna go change."
He went to his room and got changed before sitting down to write in his diary again.Misao got out of the bathroom and went to the living room to see Kumiko watching tv, a bored expression on her face. She looked kind of odd to Misao, considering that she was still dressed in her geisha attire but without her wig, hair hanging down her shoulders.
"What are you watching?" Misao asked, wiping her face with a towel. "News?"
"That's the only thing watchable now," Kumiko sighed, turning the tv off before getting up. "Anyway, I'm gonna go take a bath too."
Misao went to her room and changed into a comfy light pink yukata before returning to the living room. Kumiko was still taking her own sweet time with the bath so she ended up watching tv alone, eventually putting on a CD to watch Adhisaya Piravi, starring Rajinikanth. Kumiko soon joined in with dinner.Shri closed his diary and sighed, looking at the pen that Misao gave him as a token of gratitude for standing up to her in the train. From then on, he had really treasured the pen with all his heart.
He suddenly thought about the fact that he was leaving in less than two days and sighed, laid his head down on the table. Why did it have to be so difficult?
Shri closed the pen and carefully placed it back in its case, closing it and pushing it aside. He looked up at the covered mirror and snorted. For some reason, it slightly amused him, the towel sloppily covering it. He took his glasses off and put them on his nightstand before turning the lights out and getting to bed. Shri thought about his day with Misao tomorrow and said his nightly prayer in his heart before falling asleep.-rasuk means possessed. Rasuk means possess or possessed.
-see-see is a direct translation of tengok-tengok in Malay. It means... you stand corrected. Yeah, that's the best way to put it. Like for example, you thought there's chocolate in the fridge. But when you take a took, you realised that there's no chocolate lol. So the sentence would go "I thought got chocolate in the fridge, see-see no." Yeah, I hope you understand lol.
YOU ARE READING
Ride on Time
RomanceShri, a writer from Malaysia who had always dreamed of visiting Japan and Misao, a Geisha from Kyoto with a kind heart and an interest for Indian movies. A love between two people from two different worlds who meet but are forced to part because of...