Ride on Time

Chapter 119

Mitsuo found a nice cafe nearby in Section 8 and decided to have some kopi just like the kind he had in Old Town. He was hoping that it would be just as delicious and waited, reading a book as he sat.
His phone suddenly dinged in his pocket so he took it out to see a text from Shree, a link this time. Mitsuo put his book down, marking the page he was reading with his favourite bookmark, and opened the link. To his surprise it was a very long article written back in 1998.
Mitsuo went back to Instagram to text Shree.
What is this?
Shree instantly replied.
It's an article about Misao
Can see if there got any clues?
The waiter came up and placed a cup of coffee in front of Mitsuo. He bowed slightly and went back to his phone.
I thought you can translate this?
Like... Google Translate or something?
Shree started typing again.
I did but I scared got hidden meaning

What sort of hidden meaning?

Idk something like...
Idk la the translation got error a bit

Error?

Yeah like certain words didn't get translated properly
Can check in case?

Mitsuo sighed to himself.
Fine I'll read it

Yay!
Tomorrow we go for durian okay?

Mitsuo's eyes lit up at the mention of the King of Fruits. He immediately gave her the green light and started reading the article. He scanned line after line and frowned to himself, shaking his head at the mention of Tanaka-Okaasan suspecting Misao of committing suicide. Emiko had told him that Misao was on call with her moments before she fell off the bridge, much like how Shruti was speaking with Shri before his demise. If anything, Mitsuo was sure that someone had pushed her.
But who was it? Who was this unknown villain?
Mitsuo decided that it was best to pay this Ryōtei Okiya a visit as soon as he gets back to Higashiyama.
But in the meantime, he had to find out who was it that ended Shri. He was beginning to think that the lorry ending up in the middle of the Federal Highway was anything but an accident.
Mitsuo informed Shree that Misao's Okaasan was a suspect that had to be interviewed as soon as possible.

Mitsuo found an Indian restaurant in PJ State and asked Shree if the food there was good right after her Zumba shift.
"I'm not sure, it's a very new restaurant," Shree said. "I've never been there."
"You haven't?" Mitsuo asked in surprise. "Wanna go for dinner later? Like, all of us."
"Dinner ah..." Shree frowned to herself. "Can...? I'll ask my family and see if they're coming."
Mitsuo nodded. "Okay! I hope you guys come. I wanna know if the food's good enough for your approval. The last time I ate without you guys, it ended up being a yucky shop."
Shree snorted. "It's true. Don't ever go to Uma Restaurant. The chicken always very hard, curry very salty one."
"Noted," Mitsuo nodded again. "I'll never go there again."
Shree chuckled but nodded. "Yes. But this new restaurant does sound good. What was the name again?"
"Basileaf," Mitsuo said. "Sounds like a fun name, not gonna lie. And I think it's South Indian. So you guys won't have any trouble ordering."
"Great," Shree sighed. "Okay lah, then. Later we go. Now I wanna go bathe."
"I think I should too," Mitsuo agreed, getting up.

Mitsuo got ready and went downstairs. Shree and her entire family were waiting for him outside in their lapis blue Arteon. Of course, he had to bow before perching himself on the front passenger seat.
"So, it's Basileaf?" Mitsuo excitedly said.
Shree exchanged glances with the rest of the family. "It's... it's Thaipusam. Not sure if the shop will be open."
"Aiya," Mitsuo groaned, much to their amusement. "But you guys aren't celebrating today, right?"
"Yeah lah, because we already go, what," Devi pointed out. "For what wanna go again?"
"Yeah, hopefully the Basileaf fellers did the same thing," Vasu remarked as the car sped down the highway, going right back to Petaling Jaya through Jalan Timur.
They arrived at Jalan Sultan, where the restaurant was at, and parked before getting out of the car.
"Surprising," Shree nodded at the open restaurant. "It's open."
"Good lah," Chandrika added. "Come lah, got a lot of people. Don't know whether got place or not."
So the five of them went in and saw that the place was nearly full. Eventually, they found a spot at the back. It was a booth for four, but somehow, the five of them managed to squeeze in.
"You sure this booth isn't too small?" Mitsuo asked, seeing how the three women sat on one side.
"Never mind lah," Devi shrugged. "Okay lah here."
A waiter came over and placed the menus on the table, pointing out to them that there was an additional table that can seat up to six people. Devi still refused, insisting that it was nicer here.
"You two okay, right?" Devi asked her daughter and granddaughter.
"Yeah, okay," the two nodded back.
Mitsuo was seated beside Vasu since apparently they were two of the biggest and wouldn't fit a third person on their bench. For some reason, Mitsuo felt guilty because of the extra space. Then again, if he were to call someone from the other side over, they would be packed like sardines.
So he quietly flipped through the menu to decide what to order. There were so many to choose from, even the list of thosai was so long that two full pages were needed.
"Uh..." Mitsuo uttered, staring at the menu. "What are you guys getting?"
Shree frowned at the menu. "I have no clue. Should I get thosai?" She flipped to that page and sighed, her shoulders slumping. "Mom, thosai itself got two pages lah..."
Chandrika ran a finger down the two pages and stopped at one. "Onion masala thosai. Sounds interesting."
Mitsuo turned to Vasu who also browsed through the thosai section. Eventually, the younger man spoke. "Maybe I'll take ghee thosai. What do you guys think?"
"I think I'll take the same thing," Shree nodded before turning to Mitsuo. "You?"
"Uh... I think I'll take that too," he nodded, grinning. "Sounds interesting, ghee thosai."
"Amma?" Chandrika turned to her mother who sat beside Shree. "What you wanna take?"
"I think I'll take Onion masala thosai also lah," Devi finally said. "Call him lah, we order."
"Drinks what y'all want?" Vasu cut in. "Like... coffee means cannot sleep, tea also bad idea."
"Got pasum pal or not?" Devi said, turning to her granddaughter.
Shree flipped to the drinks section and found it. "There, fresh milk."
They started looking for a waiter while Mitsuo still flipped through the menu to see what else to try. He spotted something called Pani Puri and felt curious.
"What is Pani Puri?" Mitsuo asked Vasu in a low voice.
"I think it's like this thingy where you have to pour the sauce in it and eat," Vasu explained, making the described motions with his hands. "It's like this round thingy filled with... something. I've never actually tried it before."
Mitsuo looked at him surprise before turning to the rest. "Have you guys eaten this Pani Puri before?"
Everyone shook their heads, making him even more surprised.
"My student was making fun of me the other day," Chandrika added with a smirk. "He was like 'Teacher you never ate Pani Puri before ah?!' Best part, it's a Malay boy."
"Ouch..." Shree shook her head. "Now that's embarrassing..."
"Aiya, simply only lah that one," Devi suddenly said. "It with be round-round like that, then got inti inside. Then must pour like one sauce like that and just put the whole thing in the mouth and eat."
Mitsuo frowned for a moment. "We're getting this stuff. All of us are trying this today." He looked around for a waiter. "Now where's that waiter?"

-pasum pal literally translates to cow's milk.
-inti means filling. Like filling of a curry puff, biscuit, literally any sort of food or pastry.

Also, as for the Pani Puri part, I'M GUILTY. Yes, I didn't try it until yesterday and it was actually quite tasty. It's basically a Puri, a type of flatbread, but the dough is cooked thin and crispy with mashed potatoes and some other stuff in it. Then there's two types of watery sauce. I'm not sure what it was but one was red and tasted a mixture of sweet, sour, and spicy, while the other one tasted a lot like ajwain water. A more herby taste.
Another thing is, Chandrika found it embarrassing that her Malay student said this is because he wasn't even Indian yet even he tried the Indian snack but she, an Indian, had no idea. Happens a lot in Malaysia, I once had a friend who didn't know that Chap Goh Mei, the last day of Chinese New Year season, was also marked as the Chinese Valentine's Day where young single women would write their names and details on mandarin oranges and let them go in some lake so that young single men in want of a wife would find them and contact the women. Just like this story, my friend didn't know this fact though she was a Chinese. Kinda funny how many of us know about other cultures than we do our own culture.

Edit: I just realised after writing the above statement that this chapter takes place right on Chap Goh Mei. Both Thaipusam and Chap Goh Mei takes place on a full moon day and this year, it was the same full moon.

Re-edit: this chapter was written in 2023 (not sure of the exact date lol)