Ride on Time

Chapter 68

"So this is what an Indian vegetarian restaurant looks like..." Mitsuo noted as he took in his surroundings. "Nice... nice..."
"You sound as if you've never been to a restaurant before," Shree chuckled. "Let's order."
Mitsuo was mildly surprised when Shree ordered in English when the waiter spoke in Tamil. The two still seemed to understand each other, though.
"Alright, let's sit down," Shree said, leading him to a table to wait.
"I love how there are vegetarian restaurants," Mitsuo smiled. "It shows they really respect vegetarians."
Shree frowned for a moment before speaking. "Are there any vegetarian restaurants in Kyoto?"
Mitsuo nodded. "Plenty..."
"Then why are you surprised there are some here?" Shree asked, confused.
Mitsuo simply shrugged. "I meant it in general."
They waited like ten minutes before the waiter finally called them over to the counter. Mitsuo wanted to pay but Shree handed her card to the cashier before he could even reach into his pocket.
"Nope, we invited you over, Mitsuo," Shree smiled. "It won't do for you to pay."
Mitsuo smiled hesitantly and bowed. "That's very nice of you."
And now Mitsuo felt bad to have only gotten her family a bag of snacks...

Meanwhile...
"What what all he brought lah," Chandrika stated, rummaging in the bag of snacks that Mitsuo brought. She suddenly gasped and pulled something out. "Chocolate! And he brought the expensive kind. Two some more..."
"Nice boy ah... he brought us lots of stuff," Devi remarked in Tamil, looking at the large bottle of soda. "Break this open for me."
"Well, yeah," Chandrika took the bottle from her mother and cracked it open before handing it back to her. "He's Japanese, what. Remember how Shree will always say their culture is a lot like ours? They also bring something when visiting someone's house."
Devi nodded, chugging down the soda.

Shree and Mitsuo started walking out of the shop when a large family walked in.
Turns out it was Shruti and her entire family.
"Auntie!" Shree smiled when she recognised the mother.
"Eh, Shree!" Shruti smiled. "Happy Pongal."
"Same to you," Shree grinned. "Already make Pongasorru?"
Shruti nodded. "Done. Morning itself we did already."
Her gaze then fell on Mitsuo, making her eyes widen in surprise.
"So you brought him with you again," Shruti smiled at the young man. "You vegetarian today too?"
Mitsuo nodded, his fingers touching the pendant around his neck. "Yes, because I'm technically celebrating Pongal this year too."
Shruti chuckled. "I see... how was it? Did you like the rice?"
"Yes, it was really good," Mitsuo smiled, lowering his hand. "A sweet dessert-like breakfast."
Shree was more interested in talking with Shruti's daughters, Madhavi and Mahatri, so Mitsuo had nothing else to do but stand around. He took a good look at Shruti's family, which consisted of her Caucasian husband, an elderly couple, two teenagers, a light-haired girl and a black-haired boy, and a young woman who looked like a mixture of both Shruti and her husband and wore glasses and a thick plaited ponytail. Mitsuo guessed that the elderly couple must be Shruti's parents since they looked Indian and bore no resemblance to her husband. Shruti whispered something to her significant other before turning back to Mitsuo.
"Say, what was the title of your book again?" Shruti asked.
"Timeless Love," Mitsuo stated. "You can ask Shree, she knows where to get it."
Shruti turned to Shree for a moment before turning back to Mitsuo. "Still, I'm not really sure where to get it..." she went over to Shree and asked her. "Shree, where you bought Misao's book?"
"Misao?" Shree repeated the name, confused.
"Mitsuo," Shruti quickly corrected with a sheepish laugh. "Sorry, I keep confusing Mitsuo with Misao. But yeah, where you got that book from?"
"From AmCorp," Shree said.
Shruti frowned for a moment. "You want to come with me to buy later?"
Shree looked at her, slightly surprised, but nodded. "Can."
Mitsuo suddenly cut in. "Can I come too? I wanna see my books on display in a foreign country!"
"So excited," Shruti remarked, chuckling slightly at his enthusiasm. "What do you say, Shree? I'll pick you up later."
Shree just nodded. "Sure. We can be back in time before the event, right?"
"For sure," Shruti smiled. "Later we go, okay?"
Shree nodded and turned to Mistuo, motioning for him to follow him. The young Japanese man bowed at Shruti and her family before following her back to the car.