Ride on Time

Chapter 106

The office door suddenly barged open and in came a raging Shree and Vasu at her heels.
"Where is he? Where is he?!" Shree sounded so angry that Mitsuo even felt chills.
Shruti suddenly cleared her throat, gaining the younger woman's attention. "Hello, Shree. Why don't you have a seat first?"
"Where that feller?" Shree demanded again.
"Which feller?" Shruti asked, sounding amused.
Mitsuo ducked in his chair, covering his face with his hands. Alas, Shree still spotted him and marched up to him.
"Cannot tell ah? Ah?! You miss your flight you cannot tell ah?!" Shree demanded again. "Like one stupid like that we all waiting there, flight also leave already but you never come!"
"Nika, I'm sorry," Mitsuo apologised again. "I forgot to tell you."
"Can forget to tell me but can nicely sit here and have tea party," Shree spat, pointing a hand at the tea set in front of him. "Thanks lah. Thank you so much."
"You didn't tell her that you cancelled the flight?" Shruti asked in surprise and amusement.
"Cancelling the flight was a last minute decision," Mitsuo admitted. "I came straight here instead of telling her about it." He groaned. "I didn't know they were planning to surprise me at the airport!"
"This feller ponteng school all, you know?" Shree pulled her brother, who looked surprised all of a sudden. "For what? To see this feller off. Tell going to Japan to celebrate Setsubun, but we only buta.com."
"Hey, it rhymes!" Vasu suddenly piped up, earning himself a glare from his sister. What he decided to do was hand her the bouquet he was holding.
Shree grabbed that bouquet and chucked it at Mitsuo, startling him. "Bought for you hundred-dollars bouquet all. Wasted money only. Wasted time, wasted petrol, wasted energy. While you nicely sitting here having breakfast." To everyone's surprise she started weeping.
"Eh, don't cry lah, I only gave him tea," Shruti added.
Shree wiped her tears with the back of her hand as she turned to her. "Where got? This feller went to the mall and nicely ate sushi all before coming here." She pointed at Mitsuo's stained face. "There, his face also still full of chocolate."
Mitsuo quietly wiped the chocolate off his face, one arm around the bouquet. "I actually had okonomiyaki and nattō. And some chcocolate pretzels."
"See?!" Shree sobbed, angrily pointing to him.
"Nika, I'm very sorry, there was a reason why I came here," Mitsuo quickly said. "It was something only Ms. Shruti could clear up."
"I think there's one more thing I need to clear up," Shruti added. She turned to Shree. "Shree, sit down first. Let's have some tea while we talk."
Shree reluctantly did and Vasu did too, both sipping their own cups of tea.
"Shree, the reason Mitsuo came here was because he had a horrible nightmare this morning, one where I was in it," Shruti calmly said. "It was of the time my brother died."
"Again ah, this Shri Mohan feller," Vasu groaned under his breath.
"How did he die?" Shree asked, lowering her cup of tea.
"Road accident," Shruti sighed. "He was on his way to KLIA so that he can go to Japan and see Misao before her parents took her to Tokyo.
"The dream was very detailed, he even knew where Shri was driving to, even bits of the phone conversation I had with him at the time."
"How he know all this?" Shree asked, still refusing to look at Mitsuo.
Shruti shrugged. "Don't know. I suspect that he might be Shri, reborn. I mean come on lah, both also writer, both wear specs, both like to play with necklace. And both also wrote a book that took place in Japan with Indian character. Besides, he born one day after my brother died."
Shree nodded slowly. "Can be also, what. There, like that car guy and footballer? Both same face, died and born the same year."
Shruti nodded. "Exactly. And now, there is you."
"Me?" Shree repeated in surprise. "Why me?"
"Did you get any nightmares after meeting me?" Mitsuo asked.
Shree frowned but nodded. "Yeah, the same night. The time I ran away from you."
"That was your nightmare?" Mitsuo asked in disbelief.
Shree shook her head. "No. But it was that same night. I dreamt like I was in one airport like that. Then one guy was like leaving, I run and hug that feller, but he still left."
Shruti turned away to hide a tear.
"Does that incident sound familiar?" Mitsuo turned to Shruti. "Because all of my nightmares seem to have something to do with Shri Mohan, according to you. What about Nika's?"
Shruti nodded. "That guy she hugged was him."
"What?" Shree repeated in surprise. "But I've never seen that feller before also lah!" She quickly fell silent upon realising her rude remark. "Sorry, I meant to say, I've never seen him before. My birthday is the same as Mitsuo's, how can I have seen someone who died before I was even born?"
"You didn't, but Misao did," Shruti stated. "Shree, that was Misao who hugged him like that right before he entered the boarding gate in Japan. She didn't want to let him go also, she was crying. And that was the last time we ever saw her."
Shree frowned and silently sipped her tea.
"Well, that explains why she's so Ichiban!" Vasu piped up again, earning a surprised look from Mitsuo. He turned to Shruti. "Auntie, ask her what she wear for the Sheralbon Hotel annual dinner? The theme was Diversity or something. Ask her what she wear."
"What you wear lah?" Shruti asked curiously.
"She wore a kimono, even painted her face in oshiroi," Mitsuo answered, remembering. "She even had Seshiru no Amagasa playing in the background. I really thought she was Japanese but then realised that she wasn't upon a closer look."
Shree felt her face go warm as she hid her face in her hands.
"Misao was a geisha girl," Shruti added. "I even have her photo if you want to see."
Shree lowered her hands and looked up to see a picture of a sweet-looking Japanese girl sitting at a table with her hands placed on top of each other, seemingly taken in a cafe since a cup and saucer were right beside her. She took the photo and looked at it, swallowing her saliva as chills ran down her spine."
"I... I think I have seen her before," Shree said, pushing the photo to her brother. "She... she came in my dream only this morning."
"What she did?" Vasu asked, leaning forward in interest.
Shree swallowed her mouthful of tea. "It was like I went to a festival with her and she was eating this... it looked like dango on a stick. She looked happy, eating her dango, while I was just there, a watcher."
Shruti nodded. "See? You never seen her face before also."
Shree said nothing and finished her tea before getting up. "I think we better go. I have to get to work later."
Vasu followed suit and got up to leave too. He waved at them before following his sister out.
"Nika, wait for me!" Mitsuo called and went after them.

-the reason Vasu said that Shree was so Ichiban is because of a pun my family created whenever they refer to my Japanese songs. It is actually a reference to Tokyo Drift by the Teriyaki Boyz, where there is one part in the lyrics where they say Japan, Ichiban. So yeah, that's why. My family does that to me, and I just mentioned it here based on that. Not to mock anyone, just a reference to the song.