Ride on Time

Chapter 24

This time, Shri managed to attend the Bon Odori with Misao.
"Dance, Shri!" Misao grinned, pulling him into the circle.
Shri gulped. "But I don't wanna welcome the ghosts! What if it follows me home? To Malaysia even?"
"Oh Shri..." Misao groaned. "Just dance! You're supposed to now that we're here." Then she smirked. "If not, the ghosts will get angry and... and... haunt you forever."
"Like that also got ah?" Shri said in surprise, accidentally slipping into Manglish.
"Yes," Misao chuckled. "Like that also got."
They ended up dancing but left early to have dinner before having a stroll around Gion.

"Well, this is my last night here," Shri sighed as he watched the Shirakawa Canals with Misao. "Not sure when I'll come back next..."
"Well, if you don't, I'll come there," Misao determinedly said. "How far is it even? Seven hours? I can make it overnight."
Shri smiled. "But if you come there, I wouldn't know what Shogatsu would even be like." He turned to her. "You're inviting me, right?"
"Of course," Misao grinned. "I just wanna see the look on my mother's face when she sees that I've found myself a guy despite being a geisha!"
"What?" Shri asked in surprise.
"I uh..." Misao gulped. "Nothing?"
Shri narrowed his eyes at her. "No, it was something. What did you say?"
Misao sighed, defeated. "Fine... you know that most Geishas don't marry, right?"
"Yeah?"
"It's because we are supposed to be 'married' to the art, not to a man," Misao explained.
"Yeah, but what does that—" Shri stopped short as it finally sank in. "Oh... Oh my god..."
"Yes," Misao blushed, turning away it hide her reddened face. "I... I've always had a crush on you, Shri. Just that... I wasn't so sure."
Shri was speechless. "I... I don't know what to say. Because..."
"Because?" Misao asked, confused.
"Because that's exactly how I feel about you," Shri admitted. "I know, I'm such a square, aren't I?"
Misao snorted. "Square? As in the square form Back to the Future?"
"Maybe?" Shri shrugged. "Look, I have no idea too. I like you, but you're my friend. I enjoy spending time with you and wish I could get to know you more. Talking to you feels like talking to someone I've known for many years."
"It's the same for me too," Misao bashfully admitted. "You're the first guy I feel comfortable with, really. Will... will your parents agree?"
"They..." Shri remembered how they had been trying to set them up the whole time behind his back and smirked slightly. "Oh, I'm sure they don't mind."
"Well, I'm not sure about mine, but I don't care," Misao smirked. "They're allowing me to decide independently."
They continued strolling and eventually came to Yumemite, much to their dismay.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye, then," Shri sighed. "Will we meet again before my flight?"
"I'll be waiting right here, Shri," Misao smiled. "Oh... can I have your number and address so that we can keep in touch?"
Shri nodded and pulled out his notebook, writing down his number and address.
"Here," Shri said as he handed it to her. "That's my cell number, house number, and address."
Misao nodded and took the note before writing down her own details down on his notebook. Shri noticed how she held the pencil differently, resting it on her ring finger instead of her middle finger like most.
"This is my full name, number, and address," Misao said, handing it back to him. "I have a cell too so we can chat at any time, actually."
"Hara Misao..." Shri read. "Huh. I've been friends with you without even knowing what your surname is."
"I don't even know yours," Misao shrugged.
"Well... I don't actually have a surname," Shri said. "My name is actually Shri Mohan anak lelaki Shridhar."
"What?" Misao said in surprise. "What's that ana thing?"
"Son of," Shri explained. "So it's basically Shri Mohan son of Shridhar. The same thing goes for the Muslims too but the Chinese mostly just write their surnames. Like... if the person is Muslim, they use bin for boys and binti for girls. And we, like Shruti, her name would be Shruti Devi anak perempuan Shridhar. Lelaki means boy and perempuan means girl. Adding anak at the front would make it son or daughter."
"Oh... okay," Misao nodded. "Anyway, I think you better go. I don't know about you, but I'm really tired after that hike up that hill!"
Shri only just realised how wobbly his legs were getting. "Yeah, same, actually. See you soon."
"I'll see you off tomorrow," Misao smiled, waving at him.
She watched Shri enter the Yumemite building and started running back to the house she shared with Kumiko. She broke down as soon as she entered, scaring Kumiko who just got out the bathroom.
"Aiya, Misao!" Kumiko sighed, sitting down beside her. "Are you okay?"
"It's Shri..." Misao sobbed. "He's leaving tomorrow."
"Are you seeing him off at the airport?" Kumiko asked.
"I don't know," Misao nodded. "I have to go to Osaka for it. Should I really go?"
"It's up to you, Misao," Kumiko sighed. "The taxi fare is expensive, but I'm not stopping you. What time is his flight?"
"Nine," Misao said, wiping snot off her nose. "Sorry, I can't help crying."
Kumiko took a deep breath and hugged her. "It's okay... it's okay... everything's gonna be fine. I'm sure he'll come back to see you again soon."
Misao chuckled. "Well, if he doesn't, I'm raiding his home in Malaysia."
Kumiko smiled. "Where's that movie you always liked? Odoru Maharaja?"
"Muthu Odoru Maharaja," Misao corrected. "You wanna watch it?"
"Why not?" Kumiko shrugged. "It's a good movie, isn't it? Funny too."
Misao smiled. "Sure. But I wanna take a bath first."
"Go ahead, I left some water in the tub for you."
Misao thanked her and grabbed her yukata before making her way to the bathroom.

Shri sighed and dolefully entered the apartment suite.
"Eh, why lah?" Shruti asked as she sat at the dining table, reading a book. "Why so sad?"
"Misao... confessed to me," Shri sighed. "She said she got crush on me."
Shruti gasped. "Eh! Good, what? Then why you so sad? Aiyo, you went and rejected her ah?"
"Eh, no lah..." Shri shook his head, sitting on the chair in front of her. "I told her I like her too and I really enjoy talking to her and stuff but I don't know."
"Then what she said?"
"She said she feels the same way."
"Aiya, both of you, right... scaredy-cats lah."
Shri decided to change the subject. "She also said that she might invite us for Shogatsu."
"What's that?" Shruti asked, not knowing what it was.
"Japanese New Year," Shri grinned. "Like our Deepavali lah."
"Eh... they don't celebrate Chinese New Year?" Shruti asked, confused.
"No, they celebrate Shogatsu," Shri said.
"That one when?"
"First January. They celebrate, eat mochi, ozoni, then... oh they also eat osechi. You know, like bento like that?"
"Oh!" Shruti understood. "Eh, why so boring one? New Year wanna eat bento ah? Eat lah like sushi ke... big desserts ke Biryani ke?"
"Japan lah, who will eat Biryani for festival?" Shri snickered.
"What, nice what, Biryani!" Shruti pointed out.
"Then you will eat sushi and Osechi for Deepavali ah?" Shri pointed out.
Shruti groaned. "Fine lah. But yeah. With this Misao how?"
"I also don't know..." Shri admitted with a sigh. "But she said she'll wait for me outside tomorrow morning to see me off."
"Ask her to come to the airport lah," Shruti suggested. "To the last minute can sit with her, what?"
"Yeah lah, but where the airport?" Shri pointed out. "In Osaka. One hour from here. KL to PD like that."
"Yeah," Shruti nodded. "Around one and a half hours... exactly like from KL to PD. The other airport nearer, right? Why they don't wanna use that one?"
Shri shrugged. "Same case like Subang Aiport lah. New airport come, they close. But at least this one they use for domestic. Subang where got like that? They closed it whole."
"Far lah... for sure taxi expensive one," Shruti sighed. "But I still think Misao will come. For you."
Shri nodded. "See lah how. Must ask her only. But far lah for her. She need to go work some more."
Shruti frowned and watched her brother as he dolefully went to his room. She eventually sighed and closed her book after placing a bookmark between the pages she was reading.

I also got to know that Japanese people love Back to the Future. Well, if you guys don't know, I do too lol. It's my favourite movie, actually. I even found a few BTTF videos floating around on YouTube but the titles were in Japanese lol.

They even made a Manga adaptation of it. Glad to know that I'm not the only one who loves the trilogy😁😁

Translations...
-ke is an expression that is used when suggestion multiple options. It also means to but in this case, it's used when giving various suggestions.
-KL is short for Kuala Lunpur, the capital city of Malaysia.
-PD is short for Port Dickson
Also, at the time the Subang Airport, the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, was to be closed at the time, thus Shri complaining about it as an inconvenience. This is because the Subang Airport was a lot nearer to Petaling Jaya, Shri's hometown, than the Kuala Lumpur International Airport is.