Ride on Time

Chapter 29

A few more weeks had passed and Shri waited. Misao had called him to say that she had received his package and that there was something else in store for him too.
So he waited.
The book he had been developing was less than a quarter finished. Shri did work on it the whole day, every day, but those were just mere chapters of an even bigger book.
Now, he sat in his room again and started typing, right after a day at work.
"Mohan, come on and eat," Suganthi called from his doorway. She sighed when she noticed how he was typing, rather loudly, and had probably not heard her. "Mohan!"
Shri sighed and finished the sentence he was typing and turned his typewriter off before following his mother downstairs for dinner. This time, his older brother had joined in too.
Shruti came out of the kitchen, holding a stack of plates, and set them down on the table before seating herself next to Shri.
"Any new candidates for marriage?"
The siblings groaned as soon as their older brother began. This has been going in for years now, their trip to Japan had only served as a temporary relief.
And then he went on and on talking about how he needs a bride as soon as possible since he was already twenty-seven.
"Aiyo... very annoying lah, this feller," Shri remarked in a low voice to his sister. "That desperate ah to get married?"
Shruti frowned. "Stupid lah."
Even their parents seemed fed up with his conversation but just went on nodding. The younger siblings quickly finished their food and went to Shri's room instead.

"Why lah you writing only?" Shruti asked, rather bored with sitting on Shri's bed as he went on typing at his desk. "Boring lah..."
"Then read my book lah," Shri suggested.
"The one about past ah?" Shruti asked.
"Yeah."
"Finish already lah. How many times you want me to read?"
"Then read Mystical Mist."
"That one also finish lah."
Shri sighed and tossed a hardcover notebook at the ground towards her. Shruti stared at it as it landed in front of her with a thud.
"Nah, read this one," Shri said. "One of my old stories I wrote during school."
Puzzled, Shruti bent down to take it. "You wrote in class ah?"
"Secondary school time. Because I actually spend my time either reading or writing instead of talking to people for no reason."
Shruti scoffed. "You talking about me only, right? I don't talk much in school either, more to reading."
Shri didn't say anything and went on typing. Shruti shrugged and opened the book to read what it was about.

"I'm taking this book because the story is quite interesting," Shruti said as she walked out of the room. "Bye! Sleepy already."
Shri just waved her off and continued to type what he had written. He wasn't gonna stop until he had reached the end.
Which soon came but he was still wide awake by then.
Shri ended up reading till late, falling asleep with the book on his face.

***

Another day working, Shri returned home. He sighed and slumped onto the living room couch. His sister soon followed, turning the tv on to watch an episode of Friends.
"Got letter," Shruti remarked, leaning forward to reach for an envelope on the table. She took it, had a look at the front, and shoved it at her brother. "For you."
"For me ah?" Shri said, looking at the letter in surprise.
The return address said that it was from Higashiyama.
"IT'S MISAO!" Shri gasped, shaking his sister, much to her dismay.
He ripped the letter open and started reading, leaving his sister dazed by the aggressive shaking. A few pictures fell to the floor and Shruti bent over to pick it up, looking at the images in surprise.
"This one when happen lah?" Shruti asked, turning to her brother with wide eyes.
Shri turned to look and panicked when seeing the pictures in her hands, snatching them straight away.
"Oi!" Shruti exclaimed, puzzled. "What's wrong with you? I seeing only, right?"
Shri sighed and looked at the pictures.
"When you took all of this?" Shruti asked again, leaning close to see.
"One day before leaving Japan," Shri answered.
"See?" Shruti asked, holding out a hand to look at the pictures. "You read your letter first, I wanna see."
Shri begrudgingly handed the photos to her. She grinned and started looking at them one by one, bursting into laughter when she saw the one where he was surprised by Misao's flash.
"Why you look so blur one?" Shruti giggled. "So funny lah."
Shri smiled when he finished the letter. "She wrote so much."
Suganthi walked in and sighed. "The two of you, go and bathe. Come back from work and just sit here."
The two immediately got up, grinning, and started making their way up the stairs.
"Mohan, got one parcel for you," Suganthi said. "I put it in your room already."
"Parcel ah?" Shri asked, confused. "From where?"
Suganthi smiled. "Japan. Your girlfriend only send."
Shri's eyes widened in surprise. "Misao sent me a package?"
Suganthi chuckled and went back to the kitchen. Shruti grinned too and ran up the steps. Shri raced off to his room, just as his brother walked through the front door.

The parcel sat on his dark mahogany desk, right next to his covered typewriter. Shri immediately went to it and unpacked the parcel. There was a letter inside it too.

Yeah, same thing happened with me too. Only after had I pasted the stamps on the letter did I think of giving this to you. I really hope you like it, it's something that you can use with Shruti or literally anyone else too.

Love,
Hara Misao

Shri put the letter aside and opened the box that came with it. There was another letter inside it too.

It is called Shogi or Japanese chess. The rules of the game are very similar to chess but it's a little more complex. It requires two players just like chess but unlike chess, you can use the pieces that you captured from your opponent.

She went on explaining the rules of the game and eventually ended the note, sending her regards to his family once again. Shri eagerly opened the box to see what the Japanese chess set looked like and frowned, reading over the rules that Misao had written in detail. It did look very similar to the chess he knew but the pieces, unlike the carved figurine-like pieces of normal chess, they were rectangular with different kanji symbols on them.
He put it aside to play with his sister later, right after dinner.

"Shruti, look at this," Shri said, putting the shogi box down in front of her on the dining table.
Shruti looked up from Shri's handwritten book. "What's that?"
Shri grinned and opened it, revealing what looked a lot like a chess board but a light brown instead.
"Is that chess?" Shruti asked, puzzled.
Shri straightened the board on the table before placing a wooden piece with a kanji character on it.
"Ooo!" Shruti said in awe. "What's this lah?"
"Japanese chess," Shri grinned. "Misao sent it to me."
"When?"
"Just only. Remember Ma told got parcel?"
Shruti quickly nodded. "Yeah... yeah! Oh my god, she sent this to you? Wah!"
"Yeah," Shri chuckled, sitting down in front of her. "Anyway, wanna play?"
"How to play?" Shruti asked, examining a wooden piece with delicate black strokes. "Like chess only or what?"
"That's what I also seeing," Shri said, poring over Misao's letter again, which she even drew diagrams on. "She got draw all lah..."
They eventually started trying, not sure if they were playing correctly, but still had some fun though confused.
Siddharth frowned at them from a distance, wondering who it was that had sent such a gift.

-wah is an exclamation identical to wow.