I dedicated this story to Rui & Drina as my reviewer. Thanks a million.
Rui moved to his new place that he had rented for 3 months ago. It was in the Shinjuku suburb and was exactly what he had in mind. His last fight had made him take a long break; his opponent in the last arena was tough and was just as talented as him. Akira had almost thrown in the white towel for him, but that would bring down their ranking, and at the last second Rui defeated his opponent even though his sight was blurred. His mind kept telling him that he had to live on.
The entrance was lined with trees and bushes and was quite far from the main road. The trees and bushes looked good even though the color of the leaves had started to turn yellow, signaling a change in the season.
It's been two weeks since Rui lay down on his comfortable bed (He had been recuperating at a hotsprings resort). His room faced the traditional Japanese Garden in his backyard, with a Koi pond. Today Rui did not ring his bell to call Akira who always helped him during his recovery. Akira was his personal assistant. Poor Akira. Akira always complained because Rui never called him with his voice. He always used the bell and never stopped until Akira came to him. Rui did not want to waste his energy to call Akira, but in his heart he was grateful to have such a wonderful and loyal friend like Akira.
Rui showed up in the kitchen still wearing his big kimono and wood sandals and Akira jumped up in surprise when he saw Rui. "Rui, what are you doing here? You can walk now...wait a minute...you lied to me...after all I've done for you. The pains in your back are gone, aren't they? And you have been deceiving me all this while..." Akira's voice was tense. Rui smiled and took a seat at the table while Akira prepared breakfast for both of them.
Rui said, "I am here to protest. The food that you've been cooking is horrible, making me lose my appetite and weight."
Akira threw the cup that he was holding and it almost hit Rui, if Rui had not moved a little bit to the right side. "Wow, Akira, what are you doing, man, you almost kill the person who makes money for both of us."
Akira yelled, "What??? If I did not get you contracts for all the fight you've done, you would still be leaving in that little apartment of yours, and not in this beautiful house; and you would still be trying to find a blue-collar job. Don't kid me. Don't forget, even without you, I can do the entire job by myself."
"Yeah, yeah. Last time you fought, you almost got both of us killed and if I didn't help you perhaps by now we would be six feet under" Rui commented. Akira just shook his head and changed the subject. "What about getting a maid, Rui? The maid can do the cleaning, washing and cooking for us." He continued, "I think it is a good idea. Yesterday I saw a couple of village people's houses around here. Who knows? Maybe we can hire one of them to become our maid? It's will be only for 3 months though..."Akira smiled.
"No way, we have never done this before. If we changed our habits, troubles will come." It was rare that Rui was concerned with this small matter, as most of the time he would be thinking about fighting strategies.
Akira kept trying, "But it's not a bad idea, right?" He thought about the times when he had to take care of Rui, when Rui was recovering from his injuries. Akira would be the one who waited on him hand and foot. And he did not enjoy doing that. Rui only stubbornly shook his head. Next day, after Akira had finished preparing breakfast for Rui, he left the kitchen in a hurry. As he walked down the driveway, he saw two little houses nearby. He just stared and watched from a distance until he heard bicycle tires squeaks getting near to one of the house, which have a white wood fence. Akira hid behind the bushes as he did not want that person to see him.
The person has long straight hair down to the waist, and wore a pale blue sweater with jeans. From the shape of the person's body, Akira could not tell whether the person was a man or a woman. The person was thin, and was about 165 cm. The person carried a little box, it was like a bento box, and before Akira could catch a glimpse of that person's face, the door was shut quickly. Akira found it strange that he/she had been acting so secretively.
----------------------
Rui still felt the pain on his back and it was now getting worse. He remembered his last battle when his opponent successfully attacked him from behind and plunged the knife into his back.
After his opponent had kicked the knife from Rui's hand, Rui roll over to his front to retrieve his knife. But he was too late as the knife was already in his opponent's hand, who immediately attacked Rui from behind and stabbed Rui's back. Rui fell and his vision blurred. He tried to hear his opponent's movements instead and he did. He took the knife out of his back He kicked the stomach of his opponent and when the man tried to stand up, Rui stabbed him in the heart. The man fell without any sound at all.
Akira did not knock on Rui's door but entered Rui's room straightaway; because he heard Rui's voice and it sound painful. He turned over Rui's body and saw red blood all over the bandages and blood down his back and on the bed. "Waaaa...Rui, what happened? I thought I have already given you treatment for your injury. But I guess it's more seriously than I thought...Come I'll bring you to the hospital immediately."
"No..I don't need to go to the hospital. Just do the emergency first aid that you've done for me last time, but please tighten the bandage more this time." Rui said. "Alright..alright I know what I have to do, Hanazawa-san." Akira continued, "I'm just worried that you will get an infection."
"Just look at it for me, will you? Is it swollen again or what?" Rui demanded. Akira opened the bandages carefully and saw the wound..thank God it was not swollen. The wound had only opened a few inche, as Rui slept on his back, and that put a strain on his stitches.
Akira cleaned the blood away, put in a few stitches, and tightened the bandages more tightly. After that he got Rui to drink his antibiotics and reminded Rui to sleep on his stomach this time.
"Akira, I will get neck cramp if I sleep this way..." Rui sighed.
Akira just smiled and said, "See, we need a maid here. I am worried If I leave you here alone and you need real help. Are you with me, Rui?"
"Don't worry, I will alright." Rui answered and closed his eyes. Akira shut the door and leave Rui's room silently.
Akira got ready to go. He was wearing a turtleneck shirt and a black overcoat. He carried his boots and opened Rui's door and took a glance to see if Rui was already sleeping. He jotted down a little note and put it on the table near Rui's bed. He wrote that he would be back before lunchtime & breakfast was already on the kitchen table. He took the car key and went to the garage.
After he passed the gate and stopped at the traffic junction, he saw the familiar shape of his neighbor riding a bicycle towards him. The bicycle passed the side of his car and Akira called out "Good morning." The person did not stop her bicycle and Akira moved the car back, made a turn and stopped in front of the bicycle.
"What do you want? Go away, I don't have any business with you." She yelled. She hated being disturbed by this strange man.
"Weirdo.." Akira mumbled and started to close the car window and leave the girl immediately.
---------------------------
Rui was awakened by the wind's melody and he opened his eyes. Rui felt that he could not move his neck, but he still tried to stand up. After all his efforts, he walked to the bathroom slowly.
Splashing cold water onto his face made him more alert. After that, he found Akira's note then walked out from his room to the kitchen. "I hope Akira has made breakfast for me, I don't care if it tastes awful, I am starving."
-------------
Rui drank his last cup of coffee when he heard someone walking in the backyard. The steps were getting closer to the kitchen door.
He knew exactly what to do; he jumped up immediately and took the knife from a drawer and hid behind the kitchen door. He thought that Akira would come home around lunch and it was not Akira's footsteps.
"Hello, good morning, anyone home?" Rui did not answer the voice. There was a knock on the door now. "Hello, anybody here?" and again he didn't reply. "Ok, I will come back again after lunch." Then Rui heard the footsteps stopped in front of the kitchen window. Rui took a glance and saw someone wearing pale blue sweater looked into the house then leave.
Rui put down the knife and wondering if the girl would be coming back at lunch.
---------
Akira parked the car outside garage. He planned to leave again after he prepared lunch for Rui. He bought a lot of supply for a week.
During lunch time, Rui did not say anything and that made Akira bored, "Hey Rui, what were you doing when I was not around? Sleeping all the time?" Akira started to wash the dishes then he continued, "I will be going to downtown after this. Probably will be coming back tomorrow morning. I left a lot of frozen food for you. Is it OK with you?" Akira asked.
"Yap. I know that you'll get bored if you always take care of me. Just go. I'll be alright and I hope you'll find a beautiful Geisha tonight. Haha.." Rui teased Akira.
"Call me right away if you need me, Rui."
Rui smiled, he knew that Akira still worry about him. "OK, I will. Thanks for the lunch." Rui walked to his room.
After he heard Akira's car left, he returned to the kitchen, waiting for the uninvited guess to come again. Then there was a knock on the door. "It's me again, anyone at home?"
Rui did not answered, but he opened the door straightaway. "There you are, I've been waiting for you, come in."
The girl looked afraid, she just glanced down and did not dare to look into the man's eyes, "Gomennasai, I just want to ask you something. Do you need a maid to help you out here?" Her voice trembled.
-----------
Akira arrived early the next morning, he was worried about Rui. He called Rui's name and Rui answered him from the kitchen. "I am here." Akira rushed to him and found something different about the kitchen. It looked clean and neat. He was sure that was not Rui who had done all that. "So, did you find a girl last night?" Rui asked.
"Before I answered, what did you do with the kitchen?"
Rui answered, "You'll find out soon."
Rui moved to his new place that he had rented for 3 months ago. It was in the Shinjuku suburb and was exactly what he had in mind. His last fight had made him take a long break; his opponent in the last arena was tough and was just as talented as him. Akira had almost thrown in the white towel for him, but that would bring down their ranking, and at the last second Rui defeated his opponent even though his sight was blurred. His mind kept telling him that he had to live on.
The entrance was lined with trees and bushes and was quite far from the main road. The trees and bushes looked good even though the color of the leaves had started to turn yellow, signaling a change in the season.
It's been two weeks since Rui lay down on his comfortable bed (He had been recuperating at a hotsprings resort). His room faced the traditional Japanese Garden in his backyard, with a Koi pond. Today Rui did not ring his bell to call Akira who always helped him during his recovery. Akira was his personal assistant. Poor Akira. Akira always complained because Rui never called him with his voice. He always used the bell and never stopped until Akira came to him. Rui did not want to waste his energy to call Akira, but in his heart he was grateful to have such a wonderful and loyal friend like Akira.
Rui showed up in the kitchen still wearing his big kimono and wood sandals and Akira jumped up in surprise when he saw Rui. "Rui, what are you doing here? You can walk now...wait a minute...you lied to me...after all I've done for you. The pains in your back are gone, aren't they? And you have been deceiving me all this while..." Akira's voice was tense. Rui smiled and took a seat at the table while Akira prepared breakfast for both of them.
Rui said, "I am here to protest. The food that you've been cooking is horrible, making me lose my appetite and weight."
Akira threw the cup that he was holding and it almost hit Rui, if Rui had not moved a little bit to the right side. "Wow, Akira, what are you doing, man, you almost kill the person who makes money for both of us."
Akira yelled, "What??? If I did not get you contracts for all the fight you've done, you would still be leaving in that little apartment of yours, and not in this beautiful house; and you would still be trying to find a blue-collar job. Don't kid me. Don't forget, even without you, I can do the entire job by myself."
"Yeah, yeah. Last time you fought, you almost got both of us killed and if I didn't help you perhaps by now we would be six feet under" Rui commented. Akira just shook his head and changed the subject. "What about getting a maid, Rui? The maid can do the cleaning, washing and cooking for us." He continued, "I think it is a good idea. Yesterday I saw a couple of village people's houses around here. Who knows? Maybe we can hire one of them to become our maid? It's will be only for 3 months though..."Akira smiled.
"No way, we have never done this before. If we changed our habits, troubles will come." It was rare that Rui was concerned with this small matter, as most of the time he would be thinking about fighting strategies.
Akira kept trying, "But it's not a bad idea, right?" He thought about the times when he had to take care of Rui, when Rui was recovering from his injuries. Akira would be the one who waited on him hand and foot. And he did not enjoy doing that. Rui only stubbornly shook his head. Next day, after Akira had finished preparing breakfast for Rui, he left the kitchen in a hurry. As he walked down the driveway, he saw two little houses nearby. He just stared and watched from a distance until he heard bicycle tires squeaks getting near to one of the house, which have a white wood fence. Akira hid behind the bushes as he did not want that person to see him.
The person has long straight hair down to the waist, and wore a pale blue sweater with jeans. From the shape of the person's body, Akira could not tell whether the person was a man or a woman. The person was thin, and was about 165 cm. The person carried a little box, it was like a bento box, and before Akira could catch a glimpse of that person's face, the door was shut quickly. Akira found it strange that he/she had been acting so secretively.
----------------------
Rui still felt the pain on his back and it was now getting worse. He remembered his last battle when his opponent successfully attacked him from behind and plunged the knife into his back.
After his opponent had kicked the knife from Rui's hand, Rui roll over to his front to retrieve his knife. But he was too late as the knife was already in his opponent's hand, who immediately attacked Rui from behind and stabbed Rui's back. Rui fell and his vision blurred. He tried to hear his opponent's movements instead and he did. He took the knife out of his back He kicked the stomach of his opponent and when the man tried to stand up, Rui stabbed him in the heart. The man fell without any sound at all.
Akira did not knock on Rui's door but entered Rui's room straightaway; because he heard Rui's voice and it sound painful. He turned over Rui's body and saw red blood all over the bandages and blood down his back and on the bed. "Waaaa...Rui, what happened? I thought I have already given you treatment for your injury. But I guess it's more seriously than I thought...Come I'll bring you to the hospital immediately."
"No..I don't need to go to the hospital. Just do the emergency first aid that you've done for me last time, but please tighten the bandage more this time." Rui said. "Alright..alright I know what I have to do, Hanazawa-san." Akira continued, "I'm just worried that you will get an infection."
"Just look at it for me, will you? Is it swollen again or what?" Rui demanded. Akira opened the bandages carefully and saw the wound..thank God it was not swollen. The wound had only opened a few inche, as Rui slept on his back, and that put a strain on his stitches.
Akira cleaned the blood away, put in a few stitches, and tightened the bandages more tightly. After that he got Rui to drink his antibiotics and reminded Rui to sleep on his stomach this time.
"Akira, I will get neck cramp if I sleep this way..." Rui sighed.
Akira just smiled and said, "See, we need a maid here. I am worried If I leave you here alone and you need real help. Are you with me, Rui?"
"Don't worry, I will alright." Rui answered and closed his eyes. Akira shut the door and leave Rui's room silently.
Akira got ready to go. He was wearing a turtleneck shirt and a black overcoat. He carried his boots and opened Rui's door and took a glance to see if Rui was already sleeping. He jotted down a little note and put it on the table near Rui's bed. He wrote that he would be back before lunchtime & breakfast was already on the kitchen table. He took the car key and went to the garage.
After he passed the gate and stopped at the traffic junction, he saw the familiar shape of his neighbor riding a bicycle towards him. The bicycle passed the side of his car and Akira called out "Good morning." The person did not stop her bicycle and Akira moved the car back, made a turn and stopped in front of the bicycle.
"What do you want? Go away, I don't have any business with you." She yelled. She hated being disturbed by this strange man.
"Weirdo.." Akira mumbled and started to close the car window and leave the girl immediately.
---------------------------
Rui was awakened by the wind's melody and he opened his eyes. Rui felt that he could not move his neck, but he still tried to stand up. After all his efforts, he walked to the bathroom slowly.
Splashing cold water onto his face made him more alert. After that, he found Akira's note then walked out from his room to the kitchen. "I hope Akira has made breakfast for me, I don't care if it tastes awful, I am starving."
-------------
Rui drank his last cup of coffee when he heard someone walking in the backyard. The steps were getting closer to the kitchen door.
He knew exactly what to do; he jumped up immediately and took the knife from a drawer and hid behind the kitchen door. He thought that Akira would come home around lunch and it was not Akira's footsteps.
"Hello, good morning, anyone home?" Rui did not answer the voice. There was a knock on the door now. "Hello, anybody here?" and again he didn't reply. "Ok, I will come back again after lunch." Then Rui heard the footsteps stopped in front of the kitchen window. Rui took a glance and saw someone wearing pale blue sweater looked into the house then leave.
Rui put down the knife and wondering if the girl would be coming back at lunch.
---------
Akira parked the car outside garage. He planned to leave again after he prepared lunch for Rui. He bought a lot of supply for a week.
During lunch time, Rui did not say anything and that made Akira bored, "Hey Rui, what were you doing when I was not around? Sleeping all the time?" Akira started to wash the dishes then he continued, "I will be going to downtown after this. Probably will be coming back tomorrow morning. I left a lot of frozen food for you. Is it OK with you?" Akira asked.
"Yap. I know that you'll get bored if you always take care of me. Just go. I'll be alright and I hope you'll find a beautiful Geisha tonight. Haha.." Rui teased Akira.
"Call me right away if you need me, Rui."
Rui smiled, he knew that Akira still worry about him. "OK, I will. Thanks for the lunch." Rui walked to his room.
After he heard Akira's car left, he returned to the kitchen, waiting for the uninvited guess to come again. Then there was a knock on the door. "It's me again, anyone at home?"
Rui did not answered, but he opened the door straightaway. "There you are, I've been waiting for you, come in."
The girl looked afraid, she just glanced down and did not dare to look into the man's eyes, "Gomennasai, I just want to ask you something. Do you need a maid to help you out here?" Her voice trembled.
-----------
Akira arrived early the next morning, he was worried about Rui. He called Rui's name and Rui answered him from the kitchen. "I am here." Akira rushed to him and found something different about the kitchen. It looked clean and neat. He was sure that was not Rui who had done all that. "So, did you find a girl last night?" Rui asked.
"Before I answered, what did you do with the kitchen?"
Rui answered, "You'll find out soon."