Ride on Time

Chapter 114

"Hey, Shree," Farhan greeted as she sat down. There wasn't enough chairs so Mitsuo stole one from the table besides theirs. "You brought your friend?"
"Yeah," Shree smiled. "This is Mitsuo."
Mitsuo grinned at him and bowed slightly.
"Eh, you look very familiar," Farhan suddenly said. "Feel like I got see you before."
"I was the emcee at the event the other day," Mitsuo modestly stated. "I think I mispronounced your dad's name too..."
"Yeah, he pronounced Syed as Shed," Shree added. "Surely, you remember?"
Farhan nodded, smirking. "Yeah, that was my grandfather's name, actually. Because my dad's name is just Mikail."
"Yeah I remember," Shree nodded. "Our literature teacher once pronounced his name as Milkai."
Mitsuo couldn't help but snort. "Looks like I wasn't the first."
Shree's gaze fell on Farhan's drink, reminding her how she should get some too. "Whoops, forgot to order drink." She made as if she wanted to get up.
'Didn't we just have some?' Mitsuo wanted to say but shrugged and got up instead, saying, "It's fine, Nika. You stay here and talk, I'll go get some for the both of us. What do you want?"
Shree frowned thoughtfully as she sat down again. "If drink coffee now, later cannot sleep. What you taking?"
"The usual Passion Fruit Delight," Mitsuo shrugged.
"Is it good?"
"It's my favourite."
Shree frowned for a moment and shrugged. "Just take that for me also lah."
Mitsuo nodded and went off to the counter to get the drinks. Shree turned to Farhan and smiled. "So what's up? You suddenly called me here."
"Just wanted to meet up and talk like old times," Farhan shrugged. "Anyway, what's with you and that emcee guy? Is he even Malaysian?"
"No, he's not," Shree shook his head. "He's from Japan."
"Oh..." Farhan nodded. He paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping the cafe, before speaking again. "Actually, the reason I called you here has something to do with Japan too."
"What do you mean?" Shree asked, confused. "Is it because I like Japanese music?"
Farhan shrugged. "Something like that." He smirked and rummaged in his backpack before pulling out an envelope. "I found this in my storeroom last night. I was actually looking for my dad's old coin collection. You remember how I like collecting money, right?"
Shree nodded, a slight smile on her face. "Yeah. I also remember how we fought for that old ten-ringgit note they had when handing out the dividend."
Farhan nodded and pushed the envelope towards her. "Yes. But this is what I ended up finding."
"What is it?" Shree took the envelope and gave him a curious look.
"An old telegram," Farhan smirked. "I remember how you mentioned you've never seen such a thing before. My dad had lots too. And this one, was from Japan."
"Japan?" Shree said, opening the envelope in surprise.
It revealed a yellowed letter inside. There was a message written, both in Japanese and English. It was a peculiar message too, one that neither Farhan nor Shree understood.
Proceed with dispatch.
"Dispatch ah?" Shree snorted. "What's this lah?"
Farhan shrugged. "Who knows? Then again, it might be because the company he works at had ties with Japan around that time." 
Shree nodded understandingly. "That may be so. I wonder what it says in Japanese. It says something susumeru, but don't know what that means. Must ask Mitsuo and see."
"Ask me what?" Mitsuo came up, holding two cups which he placed on the table.
"Ah," Shree smiled and handed the telegram to him. "Can you translate this?"
Mitsuo stared at the kana characters with a slight frown. "Hassō o susumeru."
"What's that mean?" Farhan asked, rather amused.
"It means proceed with the shipment?" Mitsuo looked up from the telegram, a confused look on his face. "What's this?"
"It's a telegram Farhan found in his storeroom from the nineties," Shree chuckled and snatched the note, scanning it again. "Apparently, the company had ties with Japan at some point."
"Oh," Mitsuo relaxed, nodding. "I see. He worked at the same company he does now, right?"
Farhan nodded. "Yep."
"Yeah, I saw him the other day when I went to see the Lady CEO," Mitsuo said before taking a sip of his drink. "Gosh, I've always wanted to say that."
"Which part of Japan are you from?" Farhan asked.
"Kyoto," Mitsuo said, nodding slightly.
"He's also a writer," Shree smirked. "Like, he's novelist."
"Novelist?" Farhan looked at him in surprise. "Hey, what's the name of your book? I wanna read it if it isn't in Japanese."
"It's in English lah, how else you want me to read?" Shree sighed. "The book name Timeless Love. In AmCorp can get."
"Okay, I'll check it out," Farhan smirked. "Also, you speak very good English for a Japanese person."
"Thanks, I get that a lot," Mitsuo nodded slowly, the slightest of smiles on his face. "Enough about me, what about you?"
"Law student at this college," Farhan smirked. "Final year."
"I see," Mitsuo smirked, nodding. "Tough work, huh?"
Farhan shrugged. "It's what I want, so why not?"
Mitsuo nodded and turned back to his drink. It was pretty silent too since the three of them just sat, sipping their drinks. Eventually Shree broke it by handing the telegram back to Farhan.
"No, it's for you," Farhan said, pushing it back to her. "I found lots at home, you can keep this one."
"You sure this isn't important stuff?" Shree asked just in case. "Like... what if it's like a secret that has something to do with Shridhar Industries?"
Farhan shook his head, smirking. "Nah, I don't think so. If it is, then why is it in the storeroom and not in his filing room? Besides, it's older than us!"
Shree looked at the date. "Older than me, but still younger than you."
"Only by a few months," Farhan shrugged, smirking.
Mitsuo felt bored and ended up taking his phone out to browse through social media. Shree ended up reminiscing about old times, even talking about old classmates and teachers.
"Apparently, Puan Baga is still the only literature teacher in town," Shree said, causing Mitsuo to look up in surprise. "And she's just as snarky as ever."
"I don't like her," Farhan frowned, shaking his head. "She treated me like trash, without in the least thinking about the grief I felt."
Shree immediately felt like taking her words back. "Darn, I'm sorry. Your grandfather passed that time, right..."
"Yep, and she decided to treat me badly just because I failed one paper," Farhan sighed. "That is so mean."
"That's horrible," Mitsuo entered the chat, placing his phone down beside him. "It's not easy to deal with grief, I know how you felt. I lost my grandma back when I was in high school too."
Shree secretly felt grateful to still have her grandmother by her side, praying for her to have a long and healthy life.
"Another thing," Mitsuo smirked. "Her name is literally Baga?"
"It's actually short for Bagamathi," Shree said. "But she makes us call her Puan Baga, Mrs Baga."
Mitsuo burst into laughter. "Does she know that Baga means burger in Japanese?"
Farhan snickered. "It does?"
Mitsuo nodded. "Yeah!"
"It's funny now that I realise it," Shree chuckled. "But yeah, that's what we called her."
The two continued talking of their old times, with Mitsuo going back to his phone. Farhan didn't seem much like a stranger now, just the same person with a different style.