Ride on Time

Chapter 123

This time, Mitsuo called Shruti in advanced to meet with her. He told Shree too and she was happy to come, tagging her brother along. Mitsuo didn't mind, it meant that he got to see both of them alongside a free ride to Shruti's office.
The red Viva came to pick him up and he got into the front like he usually would, holding a bag of mochi and drinks that he got from Goma. Ride on Time by Tatsuro Yamashita was playing in the radio, something that made him a little pleased.
"Nice song," Mitsuo complimented.
Shree smirked. "You're the only person who knows and likes my songs." Vasu snorted behind them. "See? This feller always makes fun of my songs." She added.
"It's your preference, I won't say anything about them anymore, okay?" Vasu sighed.
"Good," Shree smirked. "Anyway, why see Shruti again ah?"
"I just wanna see if there's anything I missed," Mitsuo stated. "I'm not getting anywhere in this."
Sheee nodded understandingly. "Yeah lah, more than twenty years ago this one happened. Of course it would be challenging."
Mitsuo nodded too. "Yeah, you're right. Hopefully Ms Shruti can shed some light."
"Wouldn't she have done that herself twenty years ago if she could?" Vasu muttered just loud enough for them to hear.
"He's right, but she didn't get flashback nightmares in Shri Mohan's viewpoint, right?" Shree pointed out. "We technically know better than anyone else by this point, especially Mitsuo."
"You're right, none of the articles mentioned a lorry but I saw it in my nightmare," Mitsuo agreed. "So that's some new light to the case, right?"
"Yes, but we now need a suspect," Shree said as she drove down Jalan P. P. Narayanan to go to Kelana Jaya through a shortcut. "Don't know who went and killed him."
Vasu sighed, thinking about the times he spent learning and noting the details of Shri's books during literature classes. It was like the guy was haunting him all over again. If Shruti's claim about Mitsuo being the reincarnated Shri, then it would mean that his favourite literature writer was right in front of him, sitting in the same car as he was. It was a good thing that he liked Shri's writings the most since those were brightest of stories he learnt in class, the others being sad and miserable stories that centred around ageing and death for some reason. He still wondered why they were given such stories in the Sixth Form instead of cheerier and more meaningful ones.

Shruti had a sudden meeting so the three of them had to wait for half an hour. The receptionist suggested that they hang out at the mall in the meantime since they were hungry anyway.
"Should we have tea or something else?" Mitsuo asked. "I'm more thirsty than I am hungry, actually."
They decided to hang out at Sundeer Cafe to kill time before making their way back to the main office building. The receptionist let them go up to Shruti's office without a fuss. There was a man standing in front of the front desk but the three of them couldn't see who he was since all they could see was the back of his balding head but they could tell that he was Indian.
"I think I should give you guys a free pass so that you can enter anytime," Shruti joked when they entered. "So what happened so far? Any clues?"
"Clues ah?" Vasu couldn't help but snort. "This makes me feel like we're in some detective movie."
"It actually seems like one at this point," Mitsuo admitted with a sigh. He turned to Shruti. "Madam, I'm not sure where to get any information. We're drawing a blank now."
"Mitsuo sort of mapped out how the accident happened," Shree piped up, taking a seat when the older woman nodded towards the chairs. "So since the route was different before, that feller must've come from Jalan Sultan, or Jalan Selangor, then entered the highway on the wrong lane through Jalan Timur. And then yeah, he rammed your brother's car in front of the auto mall, which was an abandoned building at the time."
Shruti nodded. "That should be it. But who that feller and why?"
"Did you ever know that it was a lorry that bashed into the car?" Mitsuo asked. "Because in that nightmare, it was a lorry but I didn't see any mention of a lorry in the articles I read."
"There was a speculation, that it was a lorry that caused the accident," Shruti agreed. "Because his car... that Perdana... was smashed... and it even caused a petrol leak that... that caused the fire."
"I'm sorry, this must be hard for you to think about," Mitsuo comforted. "It must've been devastating to go through all of that."
Shruti shook her head. "If it means I can find out who killed my brother, then I don't care!"
The door suddenly opened behind them, revealing Tyler's blond head peeking in. "Henny, there's this man here that suddenly came in to see you."
"Who lah?" Shruti asked, immediately averting her attention to husband.
Tyler shrugged and widened the door to reveal an older man. "Don't know. Apparently, he made such a racket downstairs, demanding to see you."
It was evident that Tyler had accompanied him not just to show the man to Shruti's office but in case the guy proved a threat, seeing how he subtly glared at the man as he came to Shruti to speak to her. 
"Do you remember me?" He asked in Tamil, to which Shruti just gave him a strange look as she regarded him. "I used to work in this company many years ago, remember?"
Shruti frowned but slowly nodded. "Yes, I think I remember. You were one of the contractors, right?" She also spoke in Tamil too so Mitsuo didn't understand. 
"Yes, yes," The man replied. "How is your father?"
"He's fine, just retired," Shruti said. "Anyway, what is your name? I forgot, but my father might still know you."
"Ramesh," he replied.
"What are they even saying?" Mitsuo asked the siblings in a low voice. "You guys understand, right?"
"Yeah," Shree nodded. "He's apparently her father's friend and is asking her how he is and whatnot. He just said that his name is Ramesh."
They started talking, mostly reminiscing about the time Shridhar used to be the CEO of the company. Vasu noticed that Ramesh had little to no reaction about the topic of Shri's death, only saying that it was unfortunate for him.
"The poor boy, what did he do to end up getting bashed by that lorry," Ramesh remarked with a sigh. "Strange, right? How that lorry practically searched for him."
"He did nothing to deserve that," Shruti agreed with a nod. "If I find that lorry driver, I'll..." she stopped short and took a deep breath. "What actually brings you here, Uncle?"
"My son, he just graduated after completing his degree," Ramesh finally got to the point. "Is it possible for him to get a job here?"
Shruti shrugged. "Sure, we can interview him to see first. What's his name? And when is he free?"
"His name is Suresh," Ramesh answered, much to their surprise. "He can come at any time, he's free."
Shruti nodded. "Tomorrow can?" She finally said in English.
"Can, can," Ramesh nodded eagerly, grinning. "Your father knows me well. I'm sure he'll let my son work here." He lapsed back into Tamil.
"Sure he will," Shruti smiled. "So we'll see meet your son tomorrow?"
Ramesh nodded and bade farewell, completely ignoring the three visitors who sat in front of the CEO. Just as Ramesh could leave, the door opened and in came Mikail. He looked at the crowd gathered there in surprise before meeting his gaze with Ramesh.
"Eh, you who ah?" Ramesh asked, pointing a finger at the Malay man. "I got see you before, right?"
Mikail frowned and shook his head. "I don't know you." He held the door open so that the Indian man could get out, practically glaring at him as he brushed past him.
"Ah, Encik Mikail," Shruti nodded to him. "Done with the documents?" At this point, Mitsuo gave up with trying to understand the conversations around him, the previous one being in Tamil and this one being in Malay.
"Haah, yeah, I'm finished with it," Mikail smiled as he came over, giving Mitsuo a strange look as he handed the documents over. "Who are these people, actually?"
"We're just close friends of Auntie, Uncle," Shree smiled, speaking in fluent Malay. "How's Farhan?"
Mikail nodded. "He's good. You used to took STPM with him, right?"
"Yeah," Shree smiled. "I danced for the event the other day, Uncle don't remember?"
"Sorry, couldn't recognise you," Mikail sheepishly chuckled. "Who's your friend, anyway?"
"This is Mitsuo, he's quite close," Shree grinned. "You must've met him."
"Yes, you know, Encik Mikail, he really reminds me of my brother," Shruti proudly added, giving Mitsuo a smile. "He's a writer too."
Shree nodded. "Yeah, the other day I recommended the book to Farhan too." She chuckled. "He seemed excited to read it too."
"Now I know why he went to AmCorp last Saturday to go book-shopping after so long," Mikail noted before giving them a smile. "Anyway, I have to go. Still have some work to do."
With that he gave them a nod and left. No one actually noticed how Tyler was still standing in the doorway.

-Encik is the Malay equivalent to Mister. Yeah, that's just it. Like how I sometimes use Monsieur for French characters, Herr for German, and Signor for Italian, Encik is in Malay.
Also, notice how Shree said "Uncle don't remember?" to Mikail instead of saying you. It's because when speaking to older people, you usually call them by to their title, like Cikgu for teachers, Puan for older women, Cik for the younger ladies, Encik for men, and Tuan as Sir. I guess this is a bit similar to Japanese as I heard it's quite rude to say you to someone instead of referring to them by name.