from afar. | takata mashiho

✦ because

i can't believe i am actually doing this. i can't believe haruto agreed to join me when we both know for sure of the very low chance of actually finding the voice's owner. what if it's an old man who thinks in a maybe-seventeen-to-eighteen-year-old girl's voice? what if it's yuri? that would surely break haruto's heart to an extent. i ask too many questions. let's just hope to find a normal girl with not-so-normal thoughts. that sounds weird. moving on in three, two, one. here we go.

✦ ༺━━━━༻ ✧

it's only drizzling. it will a hundred percent pass within the next thirty minutes or so. this precipitation is weak. weak i tell you! we take the bus because ain't nobody got time to walk, not when they're on a hustle. plus, i'm staying healthy, i workout. i don't know about haruto over here, but i am a yoga master. it's good for you. the lady from the soondae stand told me that last year. i can really feel my chakras align each time i strike a pose; i always feel so at ease with the world. just kidding, it just gives me an excuse to say that i've exercised. it's also a really good conversation starter.

we visit hongdae and it's just as how you would imagine it. just double the amount of tourists. and no cannibal fish cake girl. i start to sweat every time i see a foreigner; and try to avoid doing so by stuffing my face with more street food. pretty tasty. would recommend trying the egg cakes and soondae.

i greatly underestimated the difficulty of trying to find a girl whose face i've never seen before. where could she be? i feel like i'm in a soulmates drama.

myeongdong is surprisingly more packed than hongdae. but again, no success. where am i supposed to go to next? all locations will end up being failures anyway. but i shouldn't lose hope just het. haruto turns to me, a light bulb illuminating above his head like an angel's halo. "maybe instead of fish cakes, we should return to its basis: fish."
"are you telling me to go to the fish market?"
"yes. come on."

i didn't check the weather. this is the consequence of not doing so, standing in the rain surrounded by dead fish and crustaceans. if only they were cooked; and if only i had an umbrella. maybe i would feel some sort of security if i was shield by polyurethane-coated nylon canopy instead of this crappy two dollar store cap that should been left in the year of justin bieber's "baby".

it just had to start raining. it's either we stay out here where you can actually breathe in fresh air but be drenched in rainwater, or, go inside risk getting squashed by bargaining bodies and be only semi-dry. i don't want to risk my life in there. no way. they'll all be sweaty in there too, so i'd much rather be wet by the rain the falls from the sky than the sweat the drips from places that the public should not have to smell from a mile away. think fast mashiho! any longer and you'll turn into rain mush. "here. please take this. it looks like you'll both need it." a stranger hands us a miracle. an angel sent from above? i think so. it's a shame she left so quickly. didn't even get to say a 'thank you' for her to hear. haruto and i give up at the market and walk to the bus stop. "so tell me about yuri. what's going on?" his eyes widen.
"well, have i got a lot to tell you."

they're still in the friend zone. but he'll get out of it soon. for me? well, at least i tried every fish cake cart within reasonable distance. now i know all my go-to picks. it's a shame though. out of all things that happened today, finding her wasn't one of them.

also, i didn't hear a thought of her's today. it felt unnatural. it felt like i was missing something. i miss it. i miss her.

i cross out 'fish cakes' on my list. thirteen more days.