Ride on Time

Chapter 73

Shree finished her Zumba class as usual and left the room. Mitsuo followed her too. She was a little annoyed at how he'd only show up at the end of her shift, regardless of what time she had it.
It was like he was watching for her.
"I'm actually very excited to go to Batu Caves this Sunday," Mitsuo grinned. "How high is it?"
"Three hundred something steps," Shree remarked, dabbing her face with a hand towel. "It's quite high, and you don't wanna go there among a crowd."
Mitsuo nodded solemnly. "So I've heard. I looked it up and indeed found some death cases..."
"Yeah, bad idea," Shree pointed out. "I still have no idea why you love going to crowded places."
"Because that's how festivals work," Mitsuo shrugged. "Have you heard of the Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri?"
Shree frowned thoughtfully. "Not really. But I can tell that it's a festival because... Matsuri..."
Mitsuo smiled, exiting the gym. "It's a festival held in autumn, around September near Tsukimi."
"Ah, I know Tsukimi," Shree nodded. "That's Moon-Watching, right? Chinese celebrate it here as Mooncake Festival."
"Yeah, so the Danjiri Matsuri, they pull this very large wooden cart, a chariot, throughout Kishiwada and at last ending at the Kishiwada Castle. The one that leads the chariot is led by the carpenter, who stands at the top of the Danjiri and guides the rest of his team through the roads with dances."
"That's really nice," Shree nodded, absentmindedly following Mitsuo into the lobby. "Wish I could see that."
"You wouldn't see it without the crowd," Mitsuo smirked. "The place to have the best view of the Danjiri is at the harbour, which is always crowded."
"I guess," Shree shrugged. "But it's really easy to get lost in crowds or lose someone if you're there in a group."
Mitsuo nodded slowly. "I guess you're right."
"Yeah, and you know my family... we always travel in a group," Shree pointed out. "So yeah."
Mitsuo nodded understandingly and pressed the button of the lift to go up.
That's when Shree realised. "Shoot, how did I follow you all the way here?!"
To Mitsuo's surprise, she turned on her heel and ran back to the gym.

Shree heaved a sigh of relief when she arrived at the locker room. She went towards hers and retrieved her clothes before making her way to the showers to freshen up before leaving.
She still had no idea how she had actually followed Mitsuo all the way to the lift lobby.
And why on earth did he not stop her when she did so?
Shree noted that down as suspicious behaviour on Mitsuo's side as she got dressed and called for her brother to pick her up.

Mitsuo watched Shree leave, confused.
He wasn't sure if it was something he did, or if she had forgotten something, so he decided to just text her to see what the matter was.
The lift dinged open and Mitsuo entered while he typed out the message he wanted to send to Shree. He sent it right before the doors closed and was left to wonder what the matter was.

"This Japanese guy's quite suspicious," Shree said as she got into the red Viva's backseat.
"Why?" Devi piped up from the front. "He nice only, what."
"He almost led me up to his room just now while I was talking to him," Shree said. "I didn't notice!"
"Maybe he didn't too," Vasu suggested. "After all, if you were absentmindedly talking and walking, there's a chance he was too."
"Ah." Devi added.
Shree sighed. "Maybe you're right."
"Stop being so... on-guard lah, Akka," Vasu said. "You went and run away from him so many times, see-see he only want to give back that kanzashi thing."
Shree nodded in defeat. "I guess..." then she groaned. "Aiyo... this Sunday must go Batu Caves some more."
Vasu groaned too. "Cannot go Saturday ah? Sunday you wanna go to that Sherry's house some more?"
"Oh yeah ah..." Devi remembered, nodding. "Can also. Tell him lah. Saturday we go Batu Caves, Sunday we go Sherry's house."
Shree nodded and took her phone out. She opened the social media app and realised that there was a text from Mitsuo.
Is everything alright?
You seemed to be in a hurry...
Shree was a little surprised that he even used you instead of u like most people. She figured that it was because he was a writer and was used to typing in full sentences.
"Now he's asking why I ran off," Shree sighed, looking at the screen of her phone."
"Just say you forgot something," Devi suggested.
Shree nodded and bit her lip as she typed out a reply.
I forgot I had to be somewhere
N didn't realise that I accidentally followed u
The messages were instantly marked as read.

Mitsuo was scrolling through his phone when he suddenly saw a notification, a message from Shree. He tapped on it, leading him to the message. He read the messages and heaved a sigh of relief.
Okay then
I was worried when you ran off all of a sudden
Mitsuo didn't even have to wait for her reply.
Yeah... sorry bout that
Also can we go Batu Caves on Saturday and not Sunday?
It's Chinese New Year on Sunday so
Mitsuo nodded to himself and typed out a reply.
Sure
That sounds great
I was thinking to go to a shrine on Chinese New Year anyway to see how it's celebrated
Are there any nearby?
Mitsuo smiled to himself and waited for a reply.
He didn't get one.

Shree was panicking.
"Awah! He wanna go to temple for Chinese New Year it seems lah," Shree groaned. "What to do?!"
"Just go lah with him," Devi simply said. "There, near our house itself got so many. You and Vasu go with him lah."
"How did I actually get mixed into this?" Vasu grumbled. "I don't even have anything to do with this Mitsuo feller."
"Go lah, with your sister," Devi said. "Nice what, go to temple for Chinese New Year."
Shree sighed. That was another plan to the list. The year has just started and it's already getting busy.
"Wait..." Devi suddenly said. "Sunday we need to go to Sherry's house also..."
Shree hid a smirk. "So how? I say cannot ah?" She eagerly picked up her phone again.
"No, let him follow us to Sherry's house," Devi grinned. "That Sherry one more, every year we go she keep asking when you gonna get boyfriend, when you gonna get boyfriend. Her son got no girlfriend also she talking a lot." She complained bitterly. "Bring him with us."
The siblings gasped. "What?!"
"Just tell lah," Devi smirked. "For sure he also want to come."
"Awah, this is getting outta hand," Shree warned, dropping the phone. "What if he say don't want?"
"Good also, what," Devi shrugged. "But introduce him as your friend, okay? Don't say boyfriend."
"You just said—"
"Yeah lah, but then he will think something, right?" Devi added. "You tell he friend itself enough. She will already suspect."
"Awah, you very mean lah," Shree sighed, picking up her phone again.

Also, Malaysians sometimes respond with ah. For a lot of questions. Ah for yes. Ah?! For confusion. Ah! For surprise. Ah... for when we understand something. And Ah. When responding to a call.