Yumme (U-mei)

chapter 2

July 16, 2017

Time, the omnipresent feeling that cant be felt. Time is relative to person and their situation. So its been almost a week after that encounter. But i havent seen her. Maybe she is a shut-in type. Maybe she is visiting someone here and was staying with relatives. Wrost case, she moved out. I woke up today somewhat relaxed. Its saturday, which means its holiday to cramming lessons.

But, today is that cosplay event sruti was talking about. it starts at 2pm. So we had to meet at 1pm at DVR mall, 2nd floor KFC. With my schedule checked i began lounging around my empty house. Looking to entertain myself for a short time because its already 11am.
I began scrolling youtube looking to kill time.
YouTube provides ample number of options to kill time. But, the only fear while using YouTube is binge watching it.

I am lost in the world of YouTube. Watching video after video after video. Maybe this is what they call an addiction. I hear a knock on door. I got pulled from my world to reality. I look at time.

"it's 1.00pm, FUCK!, those guys are waiting for me.14 missed calls."

This no disturbance thing with my phone is useful for immersion but, it has proven to be most useless in terms of emergency contacts.

I hurry to answer the door. I open the door to find all of weabo squad Waiting for some sort of answer

"uum... I am sorry, I kinda slept in." I said that with a smiley face.

"well, the lunch is on you, if you are apologizing." abhishek declared.

I quickly changed my outfit to be more appropriate and this is a anime cosplay event. So, I just wore Blue Jeans with black t shirt with SON GOKU on it. This is the minimalist attire on conventions like these.

We reached the venue the cosplaying has already started and people are queueing to get pictures with their favourite anime character.
I stood with abhishek in demonlord Milim's line. The cosplayer is also kinda cute and the character is pretty op. Line diminished and soon I was in picture of a demonlord. Camera flashes.

"say cheese"

"cheese"

Between the flashes I saw her. The girl from that day. The girl from that shop. My heart raced. Clam down. I told myself. I excused myself for washroom and began looking for her. The venue was a big circular mall with ground floor having stalls at radius and stage at centre. I looked for that girl. She was nowhere to be found. Could it be she was also attending this event or was she just passing by. Did I really see her? Was it my hallucination? It must be my imagination. my brain is getting fried lol. I thought to myself. I picked up my phone and joined my squad in KFC.

"so, we will take triple treat." sruti ordered while simultaneously pointing towards abhishek.

"I will have that zinger with extra fries"
Ria ordered.

" I will also take zinger with popcorn"
I ordered.

As we eat we talked about academics, Gossips around the class and obviously  anime. By the time we all finished. It was already 6.30 pm so,  this girls decided to head home while we boys decided to play around arcade for one more hour.

Arcade, our second playground where I and abhishek dominate. We always win the tournaments conducted here. Abhishek is a worthy rival and perfect teammate. So, whenever there is a tournament , it's either abhishek or me. Well 8 out of 10 times anyway. Back in summer vacation  we actually spend and entire 12 hrs in arcade from 8 to 8 to set all high scores on every machine. Since we commute to arcade a lot, the guy at counter, Rahul has become friends with us and will notify us of any rivals and contenders.
Once we checked all machines for high scores and most of them stand unbeaten, the ones with the beaten score experienced abhishek's fury.
The whole ordeal took us around 2 hrs. and our initial plan was 1 HR.

"fuck me dude,  my mom is going to kick me out of my house." abhishek exclaimed.

" well, you better get going then. I will see you on Monday. I will go to bookstore and pick up a book."

"Yea, bye man"

"bye"

We waved each other off like some high school girls.Now let's head to crosswords and see what's hanging. chetan bhagat's collection is on featured section. But, I am no mood to read a romantic. So I just picked up some random book with interesting description and Sat outside store eating my Popsicle.

I casually waved my head around the mall scanning everyone in sight And sitting next to me was that girl.
WAIT....WHAT..? why is she here? How did she get here? Thoughts raced my mind as I was gathering my marbles.

"hi." i tired to start conversation. she looked at me and smiled as a common courtesy. "i didnt think i would run into you here". ah snap, that sounded like one rival greeting each other.

"haha, yea i was just checking out this mall and there seems to be an event going on. since i am new to this city."

she quickly noticed the crosswords bag i was holding and responded " so, you like books?"

"yea,  i kinda read novels and short stories now and then."

"so, which book did you buy? "

"ah, just a random book, nothing too special."

"did you read a book called 'before i go to sleep'?" she said as if she is trying to gauge my bookworm level. every book lover does this. the battle in which they boast about all the greatest books they read and establish a dominance over he other person. for what? just to make themselves feel superior.fortunately for me i read that book. 

"yea, the one that S J WATSON wrote. right?"

"yes, that's the one."

and thus we began talking about books and this city and places to visit here.i am able to counter all the books she read and she was able to counter mine. she feels like she is also a heavyreader like me and we seem to be on same level on book affinity. being an otaku, i took an opportunity to ask her about anime.

"Do you like anime?"

"nah, nope the cartoons bugs me a lot. i prefer netflix shows over cartoons."

THE FUCK, CARTOONS!! a well known taboo among otakus is that never, ever lump anime and cartoons together. they are not the same. they can never be same.

"so, you like anime?"

"yes , i like them a bit." damn admitting it makes me embarassed. i summed up all the anger i could and told her one thing she needed to know.

"anime is different from cartoons." i say that in normal tone as i gulp all my anger.

"maybe, they are.its just my opinion."

"yea."

i looked at my watch and noticed that its already 10 pm and most of shops in mall are beginning to close.

"I better get going. its getting late. come to think of that you should head home too." i got up.

"i guess you are right,home huh......" she was muttering under her breath.

i began walking away from her, walking a few yards i heard someone calling.

"hey,we havent introduced each other yet." the girl said while panting. she probably ran all the way here.

"I am Monika Avasta, nice to meet you"

"i am Gourav Das, likewise. I better hurry before the last bus departs."

With that we properly waved each other off. I am siting i bus thinking about her. that hair makes me mad. and those piercing emerald eyes. she is gorgeous in my eyes.

"Monika Avasta, huh.." thats one name i hope i will never forget.