Ride on Time

Chapter 115

Shree called the house phone, answered by Vasu, and asked to be picked up from the BIC building.
"BIC? What you and Mitsuo doing there?" Vasu asked.
"We came to see Farhan," Shree sighed. "Can you just come? Look like gonna rain."
"Yeah, yeah, coming now," Vasu said before slamming the phone down.
Shree sighed and turned to Mitsuo, who sat beside her on the giant fountain. "He's coming."
"Vasu?" Mitsuo asked, replied with a nod. "Okay..."
Shree sighed, shaking her head in annoyance. "That feller got exam next week. Never study also. It's a repeat test too, his last chance to pass."
"Oh wow, you better coach him," Mitsuo advised. "Maybe I can help."
Shree frowned, shaking her head. "Nope. The test is all in Malay. It has a stupidly strict marking scheme too. They'll mark you wrong even if it's missing a small term. But then they give us a teacher like that, the one that embarrassed Vasu, and expect us to ace the test. Logic?"
"Not logical," Mitsuo shook his head. "I'm pretty sure the exam has its own format of answering. Self-studying may not fully help."
Shree nodded. "See, you understand. Even you understand but that Musang feller..."
"Is there a way for Vasu to get another teacher?"
"It's too late, Mitsu. He's in his last semester. Change means must change earlier. Now where can?"
"I didn't fully understand that sentence but okay," Mitsuo shrugged and decided to change the subject. "Also, your friend didn't seem all that bad. Why were you so scared?"
Shree shrugged. "I don't know, he just seemed like a completely different person. Turns out, he's just the same as he was before."
Mitsuo nodded slowly, a slight smile on his face. "He seems like a nice friend."
"He is," Shree nodded. "I'd always bring him for company whenever I needed to meet any teachers. He'd call me too."
"Funny how you need me to accompany you to see him now," Mitsuo's remark made Shree look at him in surprise.
"Mitsuo, it's been like five years since I last met him," Shree pointed out. "And you? What were you like five years ago? I think I was a little shy back then, but I think I still liked listening to Japanese music. What about you?"
Mitsuo smiled. "I was still a writer back then, but writing stuff for free online. I think I was a bit of a geek too, my friends always called me Megane, which means glasses." 
"Just because you wear specs?" Shree asked, earning herself a nod. "Oh wow. Can you see anything without your glasses?"
"Not much, even your face would be blurry," Mitsuo shrugged and took his specs off before looking at her, squinting his eyes. "See? I can only see your eyes and mouth, even that's a blur. I can't even read a book in front of me without my glasses." 
"Put them back on, you might lose them or something," Shree chuckled. "Also, where's this Vasu? He said he'll come now. But still not here."
"You only called him like five minutes ago, Nika," Mitsuo pointed out.
Shree sighed and took her phone out instead.

"Eh, where you buy that pants?" Was Vasu's first question when Mitsuo got into the backseat beside Shree. "I got same one, but blue colour."
"The second floor of the Old Town Market," Mitsuo chuckled. "I didn't want to enter at first because of the smell but then I realised that the smell was only on the outside."
"Yeah, it's just the drain that stinks, not the market itself," Shree nodded. "So now the two of you have matchy pants."
"You also got, what," Devi said, much to her dismay.
"Yeah, but... it's too loose," Shree sighed, dismayed by the sudden exposure.
"Give me, I sew for you," Devi said, making a motion as if sewing with her hands. "Ask your mother to give rubber."
"Is yours blue too?" Mitsuo asked, grinning.
"No, it's red. Like yours..." Shree felt her face boil.
"Hah! Now you only matchy pants with Mitsuo!" Vasu excitedly remarked.
"Yay!" Mitsuo was just as excited too. "Also, drop me off at Old Town? I wanna try some Bao."
To his surprise, the three of them instantly started protesting.
"Why?" Mitsuo asked, confused.
"That pau in Old Town not so nice," Shree said. "You want means, go to Seapark or Section 14."
Mitsuo shrugged. "I can't take down the advice of a local now, can I?"

Shree looked at the telegram that Farhan had given her. The message was so short, yet it still amazed her.
"Mom, how were telegrams sent back then?" Shree asked, showing the telegram to her mother.
Chandrika took the telegram and looked at it. "This is a telex, around nineties we use this."
"How were they sent?" Shree asked again.
"They were usually typed out in a telex machine, it looks like a typewriter," Chandrika explained. "And then, the recipient's telex machine will type the message out for them."
Shree nodded slowly. "So it's like a fax machine?"
"Something like that, but the sender just types it out, the recipient receives the original," Chandrika explained. "Who gave you this?"
"Farhan," Shree said. "You know Farhan? My STPM friend? His sister now studying with Vasu."
"Oh," Chandrika nodded, remembering. "Why he give you?"
"Simply," Shree shrugged. "I think it's mainly because of the Japanese message. Everyone knows that I like Japanese culture."
Chandrika nodded and went right back to her phone. Shree snorted and decided to safely put the telegram away in her diary. For some reason, it served a certain importance to her, she just didn't know what or why.

Mitsuo ate his bao as he watched Muthu on TV. It wasn't even the first time he was eating Chinese steamed buns since he had ate it many times before in the form of nikuman, but this was special.
His first nikuman in Malaysia.
Mitsuo heard the pitter patter of rain outside and paused the movie, deciding to go take a look. It was a heavy downpour, but yet the night was still as bright as ever, the sky a curious shade of brown. For some reason, it reminded Mitsuo of something, he just didn't know what. He leaned against the sheltered balcony railing and watched as the rain drenched the city of Petaling Jaya, nibbling on what's left of his bao.

***

Shree suddenly found herself walking down a snowstorm. Her hands were white with frost, making her shiver with fear. Shree started running, the deep snow crunching against her feet.
A layer of thin ice covered the ground and Shree peaked at her blurred reflection. What she saw on the frozen surface wasn't her form but the blurred image of a geisha woman wearing a bright red kimono with a red hairpin adorning her elaborate hairstyle.

Shree wasn't even surprised when she woke up back on her bed. She was starting to think that Shruti's idea of a reincarnation couldn't be as far-fetched as she once thought. Maybe it was time to pay her a visit.

***

Mitsuo walked down a busy street of cars. It looked a lot like the highway near Sheralbon Hotel, but the hotel itself was missing in its place.
He stopped at the side of the road, waiting for some unknown reason. A car pulled over in front of him, a black car which somewhat resembled a seventh-generation Mitsubishi Eterna. Mitsuo bent down slightly and looked at his reflection in the glass.
Who stared back at him was an image of Shri and not himself.

Mitsuo woke up screaming, but quickly stopped upon noticing that he was back in his room at Sheralbon Hotel. He heaved a sigh of relief and looked at the time before going right back to sleep.